Fallow - A Mass Effect Interpretation
by IpsumAdVeritas
Summary: This is the tale of the last harvest, the broken cycle. This is the story of the SSV Normandy, and the men and women who struck the first blow in the Reaper War. This is the tale of Alexander Shepard: Spy, Soldier, SpecTRe. A Mass Effect retelling with a focus on dropped plot elements.
1. Chapter 1 - Mindoir Echoes

_Author's note:_ _Due to the massive amount of time it would take for me to narrate every scene in all of the games, and the familiarity most of you likely have with the series, I have presented my interpretation of the trilogy in outline form. For scenes in the game that I leave untouched, the story will skip to the next point, often with a particular piece of dialogue or action that represents that scene happening in that spot. A "fast forward" if you will. Happy reading! (Please review!)_

 _(Outline format)_

 _I)_

 __(1)_

 __(a)_

_(i)

 _Note on the Author's note: I'm in the process of phasing this structure out. The above structure begins in Chapter two and ends around Chapter six._

Here follows the story of Commander Alexander Shepard, Alliance Marine, First human SpecTRe, Hero of the Citadel.

 **Mass Effect**

* * *

 _Mindoir Echoes_

The XO's bunk on the SSV _Normandy_ had yet to acquire that subtle bowing from use and abuse. An unconscious reminder of new privileges and new duties the title Commander brought. Shepard rolled over in his sleep, his body reacting to subtle stimuli, and his mind following, dreaming of a day 17 years ago.

The vast grey fields of Mindoir open up before him. There is a separation, a dissociation as he watches a much younger version of himself laugh, proud and strong, at his feat – holding a massive stone in the air, a shimmering blue corona licking the edges of the dark rock. The young asari next to him – only visiting, her mother in talks with her father about training for young Alexander – laughs in pleasure, sharing his accomplishment.

"You're getting it! Now try this!" her smooth blue face grows serious for a moment, and she flicks her hand outward. A small dark orb pops into existence, uprooting and destroying weeds around it as they swirled into the tiny accretion disk. The outer edges had picked up two very surprised gerra pups, who gave an odd, snuffling wail. The children laugh at the alarmed squeals the small rodents make, and the small asari gesturee proudly toward her creation.  
"Bet you can't do that!"

"Can too!" Young Alexander concentrates, and flicks his wrist the way the asari did. A shimmering blue field appeared, briefly, then snuffed out. Frustrated, Alexander tried again, this time managing to pick up a wad of dirt, but nothing else. His companion smiled and tried to teach him, guiding his arm, but he shook her off.

"I can do this Nala!" There were six more impotent puffs of biotic energy before he let Nala take pity on him. She launched into an explanation, only a little bit too pleased at Alexander's contrite face. She began showing him the mnemonic, and more importantly, explaining how to _think_ about the energy called upon. She let Alexander try a few more times, (with varying levels of failure) enjoying her role as teacher.

Nala stopped suddenly as the sun is blocked out by a shuttle, flying low and fast. An icy dread welled in Alexander's heart. It isn't a familiar ship. Its sides are painted with strange characters, and it had far too many guns. The wind picks up near them as the ship slows, and gives a hiss – audible even at distance – as it starts its landing sequences. The ground rumbles as more fly in recklessly close. They land haphazardly, on top of buildings, in the middle of fields. They crush the buildings the colonists were so proud of, flatten the crops that sustained them. Screams and harsh yells make their way into earshot, and the children stare at each other, horrified.

"We've got to hide!" the young asari took his hand, and started pulling Alexander into the woods that lined the end of the empty field they had been playing in. A crash near them breaks him out of his shock, and he pulled free of Nala's grasp and sprinted off, headed for home. His parents had to be alright. They had to be. Dad would protect them. Alexander glanced behind him, just once, seeing the sun glint off of the tears that had tracked down Nala's face. Her hands covered her mouth and she looked from the woods to him and back.

"Run, Nala!" he yelled, then turned and sprinted for home.

He reached their small pre-fabricated home as his mother, white-faced and terrified, ran down the street screaming his name. They crashed in the street, Alexander swept up in his mother's arms. She sprinted home, and thrust him into the closet, making him swear to be silent no matter what he heard. The door closed, and he was alone. His dad's deep tones soon joined his mother's panicked breathing, and Alexander heard the sound of their gun – a pitiful, ancient sidearm – being cocked from inside the soft darkness of his meagre protection. Things quiet inside the home, though the filtered screams continue outside. Harsh laughter passes by outside the home. There's a rough knock – the front door. A crash as it caved in. A single shot, throaty shouts of rage from the invaders, a strangled yell from his father, then a wet thud. He hears his mother whimpering, pleading. There are sounds of furniture crashing, heavy steps getting nearer. The door opens, the light blinding Alexander as a leering Batarian face peers at him cowering in the darkness.

Commander Shepard awoke with a gasp, sweating. He rubbed his eyes harder than was strictly necessary, still hearing the sobbing breaths of his mother grow fainter and fainter. The Normandy's XO office is dark, still several hours until 1st shift. Shepard stared into the darkness, trying to master the unruly memories that always came with this day.

Deciding to rob his ghosts of both the darkness and his attention, the Commander left, to grab the swill they called coffee in the mess. He sat at the single table, finishing the mandatory reading for their new Several coffees later, the 3rd shift began filtering back to their bunks, while the still bleary-eyed 1st shift began filing into the mess, grabbing the food dispensed by the surly machine that served as cook. They ate what passed for their breakfast, glancing about occasionally. They had yet to settle in, having only left Arcturus yesterday. Shepard grabbed his allotted double portion, to satiate his biotic metabolism. He glumly moved it about, and switched to back to his reading – reviewing the suggested standard operating procedures, and reviewing his notes on turian language and customs provided by the Alliance.

"Commander, we're approaching the rendez-vous point. Council vessel _Necess Gladian_ is hailing us." Flight Lieutenant Moreau's voice was professional. Shepard idly wondered how long that would last, having read the man's personnel file.

"Set preparations for the exchange. Have Fredricks and Jenkins suit up and report to the airlock. Linkage arrangements your discretion." Shepard said.

"Understood Commander." Shepard nodded amicably to the crew sitting around him, and left to change into his dress uniform.

He arrived at the airlock, as the ships linked, a seamless execution of an otherwise dangerous maneuver – a slight bump the only indication they had they were no longer flying alone. The VI droned as the decontamination process began and ended. Captain Anderson walked up, also in his dress blues. He patted Shepard on the shoulder, and settled himself beside his XO, arms crossed. There came a hiss, and the interior door of the Normandy swung open, with the accompanying mist that was a residual effect of the decontamination. Three turian forms stalked onto the ship, tall and wary, yet their angular forms seemed at home among the curves of the ship. Two were dressed in standard armor, the black with grey strips along the shoulders and across the chest, Phaeston rifles clutched in their hands.

But the lead turian seemed not so much to walk as to stalk in, his movements languid and graceful. He had what amounted to half an armory on his back, his armor unlike anything Shepard had seen. Captain Anderson stepped forward to make the formal greetings, and Shepard found himself snapping to attention with the marines. He drew his sword and gave a full salute as the turian party formally boarded. The lead turian's eyes never left him.

"… And this is my XO, Commander Shepard." Anderson finished. Shepard nodded. The turian – Nihlus, he'd said – didn't react. He finally spoke.

"I expect we will get to know one another well, Commander." Shepard nodded.

"I'll be happy to answer any questions you have about the Normandy." Shepard motioned down the CIC. "For now, Fredrickson can show you and your men to their berths." Nihlus turned and gave a flick of his head to the soldiers, who saluted and retreated from the airlock.

"They won't be accompanying me. Lead on." Shepard nodded. He was curious, but knew better than to show it during formal proceedings. Fredrickson saluted, and shipped his weapon, putting on the mag-lock on his back.

"We'll have a formal briefing at 1100 hours. Explore the ship at your leisure, SpecTRe Kryik. My men have been ordered to assist you in any way you might require." Anderson said. He nodded respectfully, then left. Nihlus gave one last searching look to Shepard, then followed Fredrickson to his berth.

"You alright Commander?" Jenkins asked as the turian left earshot. "You look a little beat."

"I never sleep well today." Shepard said. Jenkins laughed, and the Commander forced a grin.

"There's always tomorrow, eh?" Jenkins said.

Shepard nodded half-heartedly. "You're dismissed, Jenkins. Back to normal duties." Jenkins saluted, and was about to give a sarcastic quip about staring at walls, but the Commander had walked away.

"It's the anniversary of Mindoir you ass." Joker said from the cockpit.

Jenkins frowned, surprised. "Oh." He walked up to join the pilot in the cockpit. "But all colonists think he's a hero for what he did there."

Joker glanced at the impressionable marine, wondering how somebody that naive had made it unscathed through boot camp. He softened his tone. "That's not what he's going to remember about it. He lost his family there."

Joker watched the thoughts connect in Jenkins' head. He assumed with some bitterness that the man must've had ridiculous physical aptitude scores.

"What exactly happened on Mindoir? All I know is that he killed the Batarians that attacked the colony."

"Look it up on the extranet if you want details." Jenkins gave him a look. Joker was about to give an exasperated retort when Lieutenant Alenko walked up, a mug of coffee in his hands.

"He's just gonna keep bugging you until you tell him something." Jenkins grinned in reply. The LT knew how boring shipboard marine postings could get. Jenkins nodded his thanks. Joker sighed, irritated now.

"Right. Mindoir. Single bloodiest batarian raid on an Alliance colony. Came in, tore down half the buildings, took three quarters of the colonists captive, killed the rest." Joker let the VI take over flight control, now that they'd disengage from the _Necess Gladian_ , and pulled up a summary of the event on the haptic interface in front of him. There was a grim picture of smashed buildings and burning rubble at the top of it – the remains of the colony.

"They come and get away mostly clean. Says here that it was likely a fleet." Joker glanced at the article. "Anyway, after the Alliance finally shows, they do a sweep of nearby systems. Halfway to the relay they found one of the cruisers responsible drifting, all systems functional." Despite himself, Joker was getting into the story. The marines rapt attention didn't hurt.

"When they boarded, they found the large majority of the lost colonists still locked in their cages. No batarians in sight. The Commander, only 9 years old, was sitting cross-legged on the bridge, a dozen dead slavers and a biotic singularity behind him."

" _Bad. Ass."_ Jenkins mouthed silently, staring at the article the pilot had pulled up. Alenko frowned at the marine.

"He was forced to kill before he'd reached a decade old." He shook his head. "More than that, he saw first-hand what slavers are capable of. He wouldn't remember being a hero. He's lucky he came out of it still sane." The lieutenant said. "I know I wouldn't have.

Jenkins nodded seriously. "It's a good thing he did though. We needed him there on Elysium."

"Yeah, yeah. Now go tell your war-stories someplace else." Joker shooed them out of the cockpit. Jenkins looked put out, but left. The lieutenant, on the other hand, gave him a sardonic grin, and sat down in the co-pilot's spot.

"I'm here to oversee shakedown procedures, actually."

"Well that's just great." Joker muttered.

The lieutenant's evil grin widened. "What was that Flight Lieutenant?"

Joker rolled his eyes but gave a salute, his voice falsely cheery. "That's great, sir."


	2. Chapter 2 - Eden Assaulted

"Shepard." The turian SpecTRe gave a nod. The Commander kept himself from jumping – Nihlus moved soundlessly, and rounding a corner and seeing a turian face jump out at you was quite a shock.

"How are you finding the ship, Sir?" Shepard asked, polite. It seemed he was running into the man every other hour. If the ship weren't so small, he'd suspect the SpecTRe of following him.

"More than adequate." The turian's unusually intense gaze didn't waver. There was a beat of silence, then he said, "I understand the designs were nearly leaked?"

Shepard nodded. "A cell within the Alliance had penetrated project Tantalus, and were planning on releasing the schematics. We're not sure who to. Likely the Shadow Broker." Shepard smiled. "It was dumb luck I stumbled over their dead-drop."

"Was it?" The SpecTRe's eyes seemed to flicker with brief amusement as he kept Shepard in that penetrating stare of his.

"If I hadn't dropped my credit chit –"

"An amusing story." A smug note had crept into the turian's voice. Shepard briefly wondered how much access alien SpecTRe's had to Alliance Intelligence, but kept with his story, raising his eyebrow quizzically.

"Sir?"

Nihlus' mandibles flickered, and he nodded to the Commander. "We should spar sometime."

"Not sure I'm comfortable with that, sir." Shepard said.

"Really? Your marine complement speaks highly of your hand-to-hand skills. And there was your defense of Elysium…"

Shepard coughed at the last, but grinned. "I try not to beat on anyone above my paygrade sir." He allowed a little friendly challenge into his voice. The SpecTRe gave the turian equivalent of a grin, and nodded.

"See you in the cargo bay."

"I'll inform the good doctor." Shepard said wryly. Nihlus' mandibles flickered again, and he stalked off, still noiseless.

After his shift was over, Shepard marched down to the cargo bay, only to find half the off-duty marines and some of the on-duty ones crowding around the mats that had been set down for the sparring. Nihlus was there, looking oddly incomplete with only workout gear on. He was unperturbed by the jocular jostling of the marines around him, and seemed to ignore the pointed looks of hostility on some of their faces. Shepard stretched quickly, and stepped in the ring.

"What are the rules, sir?" he asked.

Nihlus cocked his head to the side, still studying Shepard. "No biotics. No dirty hits. No claws." He said.

Shepard grinned. "I can tie one hand behind your back, if you'd like." Despite his taunt earlier, he had no illusions how this would go – the SpecTRe had a decade of experience on him, and had made his way up the Hierarchy by his prowess in battle alone. Shepard…. Had not. But the chance to learn from one of the Galaxy's greatest warriors was not something that he would pass up.

Nihlus smiled. "That won't be necessary." He snapped to attention, and put his hands into a ready stance from one of the Hierarchy's martial arts forms. Shepard bowed, and raised his hands lightly, keeping on the balls of his feet. The Marines started cheering. Shepard swore he heard Chakwas' disapproving tut even over the marines. The good doctor certainly didn't lack for spunk.

They circled the mat twice, probing. Then Nihlus charged, throwing his shoulder forward. Shepard moved obliquely, allowing the blow to glance off of his chest. It hurt like hell, but allowed him to get behind the turian. He kicked out, aiming for the high joint in the turian's leg. Nihlus had already moved, swinging around in a spinning kick that Shepard only dodged from the momentum of his own kick. Shepard grunted, and bulled into Nihlus as he was coming down. They smashed toGether on the floor, mats blunting the impact. Shepard moved to put Nihlus in a joint lock, but the turian had moved with a slipperiness that belied his plated features, twisting around and reversing the hold onto Shepard, who had to roll out of it. He came to his feet quickly, only to be slammed by a vicious uppercut. Fine flecks of light danced across his vision as his consciousness vibrated from the impact. He ignored it, giving a sweep kick that painfully slammed his shins into the turian's knees. Nihlus stumbled, and Shepard put two quick punches into him – one to the chest, his fist making an odd sound as it hit the leathery plated skin, and one to the face, his knuckles splitting as they hit the mandible.

The marines cheered, and money changed hands. Nihlus grinned at Shepard as he backed away, from both adrenaline and amusement. He launched into a spinning kick. As he hit the air, Shepard lunged forward, throwing the turian off balance, forcing him to come down early. He came down on Shepard's leg, causing it to twist oddly. Shepard grunted and fell, rolling backwards and away. He came to his feet, and got an elbow in the gut.

Winded, he barely parried the next three blows, and threw a quick combo at Nihlus, who blocked them all, grabbed his elbow, and spun. Shepard yelped as he flew over the tall SpecTRe, and was winded a second time as he hit the mat, hard. He tried to roll out of the way, but Nihlus was on top of him in half a second, his forearm pressed lightly on Shepard's throat.

"Dead." He said lightly, the inflection still amused. The turian stood, and then offered a hand to Shepard, who gladly took it, levering himself up.

"You're a hell of a fighter, sir." Shepard said, grinning at his opponent, adrenaline still thundering through him.

"Yes." Nihlus said, the amused lilt still there.

"Would you mind teaching me a few things?"

Nihlus tilted his head. "That depends on how the next few rounds go." Shepard grinned fiercely in reply, and put his hands back up.

The next 6 rounds all ended similarly, but each one lasted longer than the last. Shepard was learning about his opponent. Mid-way through the 3rd round, he'd realized, after making a mistake that Nihlus failed to take advantage of, that the turian was _testing_ him. Not exploiting certain things to show the breadth of Shepard's skills, using less direct and pragmatic approaches to force the fight in interesting directions. Shepard complied, throwing in all of the training he'd had – lessons from his brief time in with the asari commandos, his drill instructors in the Alliance, a few tricks he'd learned before Elysium, and some he'd learned from the turian observers during the _Normandy_ 's long stretch in dry-dock. When he started doing this, he sensed some sort of… approval from the SpecTRe.

As the last match ended - Shepard bouncing off of the mat, and Nihlus slamming his knee hard onto the space next to his head, the remaining marines whooping – Nihlus dusted himself off, and said,

"Not bad." He gave Shepard a searching gaze again, "You are free at 2000 GST." It wasn't a question. "Report here. I'll teach you."

Shepard rose, groaning slightly. "it would be an honor, sir." Nihlus nodded, and walked off, not even having the courtesy to look fatigued. He nodded to Captain Anderson as he came down to the cargo bay, the Captain's face a masked with slight disappointment. Shepard knew him well enough to know that he was hiding his amusement. The Captain had been a marine once himself, after all.

"Clear up, everyone. We're commencing secondary shakedown procedures in half an hour. The marine's hurriedly saluted and rushed off, doing their best to look busy. Anderson folded his arms as the men filed out. Shepard approached, toweling himself off.

"Good work, Shepard." He gave a wistful, and maybe slightly bitter look at the mats and the ring around it. "Would have liked a chance in the ring myself."

Shepard grinned. "The, ah, 'weight of command' wouldn't make that difficult, sir?" he said, pointedly looking at Anderson's midriff.

Anderson raised a sardonic eyebrow. "Watch it soldier. I could still take you any day of the week." Anderson's smile turned wolflike. "After all, they baby the N7's these days."

Shepard rolled his shoulders. He'd be quite stiff tomorrow. "Ach, low blow sir."

"Never fight fair, soldier." Anderson said, repeating a line drilled into every N7's head. Shepard laughed, and turned to head toward the showers.

"Shepard." Anderson said, formality returning to his voice. "Report to the briefing room at 2200 ships time. You'll receive a formal briefing on everything then."

Shepard cocked his head slightly, and nodded. "Yes sir."

* * *

At 2200 GST sharp, Shepard reported into the communications room, showered and sore all over from the intense training he'd received. He'd expected the focus to be on close quarter combat, but the ineffable turian had other things in mind, and the lessons had ranged from CQB to tricks and programs he could use on his omni-tool to augment his biotic and normal ordnance. Shepard had a knack for thinking obliquely, courtesy of his rather… varied upbringing, and he'd managed to surprise the SpecTRe a few times, a feat he was proud of.

As he walked into the Comm room, he encountered Nihlus, his arms folded and staring expectantly, and Anderson, who was in a similar pose. Shepard's training told him they'd been discussing something as he came in. From the way they stopped, he assumed he was the subject of their conversation.

"Commander, it's time I told you the real reason you were given a position on the Normandy."

"Yes sir." Shepard said, keeping his grin under control.

"You probably have been wondering why the initial turian delegation was replaced by Nihlus here."

"Yes sir." Shepard's grin widened.

"This isn't just a shakedown run, you see." Anderson began pacing. "The human Alliance has been expanding its influence in galactic politics. We're becoming a force to be recognized, respected. It's no secret that we're hoping for a seat on the Citadel Council."

"Yes sir."

"As a part of that, the council races need to know we can pull our own weight, and understand the tides of galactic currents well enough to govern well. As a part of this – "Anderson stopped pacing, and seemed to just now realize the massive grin that his XO was poorly concealing.

"You already know, don't you?"

"Yes sir." Shepard said, grin splitting his face.

Anderson sighed and rubbed his hand across his face. Nihlus's mandibles flickered, a sign of deep amusement for the stoic turian.

"Where'd you get the information this time?"

"Let's just say I trained under the one who wrote the OpSec rules." Shepard said, enjoying giving his marine mentor a good ribbing.

"Yes. You're training to be the next Human SpecTRe. It's an honor, first of your kind, etc. etc." Anderson said, a tired grin on his face courtesy of his irrepressible XO.

"I assume you know about the beacon then?" Anderson asked.

"Yes sir. The politics make sense too sir." Shepard nodded. Anderson and Nihlus both turned their heads slightly, impressed. Anderson made a tired motion with his hands.

"Yes, well, we share what we learn and then we might have the economy and information to actually implement it."

"You are getting a better trade than the Hierarchy did." Nihlus said quietly. The two alliance officers gave the SpecTRe a long, surprised look, but he didn't deign to elaborate.

"How will the testing being, Sir?" Shepard said after a long silence.

"You will report to me at 0600 each morning, and we will train and test you until 2000 each evening." Nihlus said, a small glint in his eyes, daring Shepard to complain.

"Navigator Pressly has been briefed on XO duties and will be assuming your position on the Normandy after your promotion." Anderson said crisply.

"Hm. Thought he was overqualified for his position." Shepard said easily.

"As are you, Commander." Nihlus said. Shepard tilted his head slightly, acknowledging his, ah, service record.

Nihlus, apparently finished with the conversation, left the room without further comment. As Shepard and Anderson made their way up, Shepard grinned,

"And sir? You might want to give Yeoman Djana a crash course on operational security." Anderson sighed again, and gave Shepard a pat on the back, that was just slightly too hard. Shepard grinned, saluted, and left.

Nihlus' training proved to be every bit as challenging as his testing, and Shepard collapsed each day, exhaustion burning through him. The training went beyond physical – a SpecTRe was expected to be a one-man army, a one-man intelligence service, and a one-man judge, jury, and executioner. Shepard had shown aptitude for the first two, from his service record, but the third required an extensive grounding in galactic law and treaties, as well as a myriad of situations that a SpecTRe might be expected to encounter, up to and including the SpecTRe force's right to depose the Citadel Council if necessary.

Nihlus himself remained stoic, though Shepard was beginning to see small little gestures of approval, and a week later, of fondness. His sense of humor was so dry as to be nonexistent, but Shepard was learning more and more how to get a rise out of him. The workload never lightened, however.

As the shakedown procedures came to a close, the _Normandy_ making its way through wargames and simulations above all expectations, Nihlus began talking of the future. Eden prime would be their first mission – a quick run-through of the standard operating procedure so that Nihlus could diagnose what would need to change, if anything, in Shepard's tactical thinking and planning. They'd already been through simulation after simulation – most of which involved Shepard having to deal with being overwhelmingly outnumbered and outgunned. Nihlus had refused to tell him if he'd done well or not, only laid out consequences.

"You never know. Not really. But in everything you do you must act with supreme authority, and with the confidence that your decisions are correct. If you cannot do so, you are not fit to be a SpecTRe." Was all he'd said when Shepard had asked.

* * *

While the Normandy made its way through the Arcturus Relay, Shepard found himself enjoying one of his moments off, merely admiring the smooth efficiency of the _Normandy_ crew as they completed their actions with a studied professionalism and poise – no doubt inspired by the brevetted XO, Pressly.

"…Drift: just under 1500k." Joker finished, relaying the commands through his mic to the cadre of navigators.

"1500 is good. Your captain will be pleased." Nihlus said from beside them, a rare glint of respect in his eyes as he glanced at the pilot. Joker looked less than pleased, and Shepard realized he was the only one present with enough experience in turian body language to recognize it. As Nihlus trudged off – still managing to move silently in a hardsuit across a metal floor. Joker grumbled.

"Hardass."

"He gave you a compliment, and so you're insulting him?" Lieutentant Alenko said from the co-pilot's chair. The LT had been put in charge of 'supervising' the mouthy pilot, mainly because he had the patience of a saint and a sense of humor dry enough to overmatch Moreau's sarcastic jibes at anything that moved.

"You remember to zip up your jumpsuit on the way out of the bathroom, that's good. I just jumped halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead. That's incredible. Besides, SpecTRes are trouble. Call me paranoid."

"You're paranoid. It was a joint operation to build this ship, the first of its kind. The council will want to keep an eye on their investment."

Shepard smiled to himself, realizing that the bantering soldiers hadn't noticed he was behind them.

"Besides, the SpecTRes always have the newest toys. I expect Nihlus will want one for his own purposes." Alenko continued, looking back down at the diagnostics he was running post-relay.

"That's what I'm worried about. The _Normandy_ 's a lady, but you've got to know how to treat her right." Moreau patted the side of his interface fondly. "I don't want some turian with a stick up his ass trying to hold the line with a freaking stealth frigate."

Shepard shifted slightly, and Alenko looked up at the noise. He nodded at Shepard. _This one's observant. Good._ The commander thought to himself.

"I wouldn't worry about that Flight Lieutenant." Shepard said. The pilot jumped, and Alenko grinned.

"Oh hey, commander, didn't see you there." Joker said warily.

"She's an Alliance bird, Moreau. She'll stay that way." Shepard grinned at the mouthy pilot. "Nihlus would have to pry her from Mikhailovich's cold dead hands."

Moreau grunted. "Being as he's a SpecTRe, that doesn't comfort me much."

"But think of the paperwork involved." Alenko said dryly, and Joker winced.

"Point." His hands moved in familiar motions across the haptic display, when there was a urgent beep, and a red flagged item appeared on both Moreau's and Alenko's displays. Both of them looked up in alarm, and Joker's hands flew to automatic points, sending it up the command structure. Shepard's omni-tool beeped, and a fraction of a second later, Pressly's crisp voice echoed over the comm.

"All hands to general quarters. Hostiles reported on Eden Prime."

Shepard swore, then dashed off toward the galaxy map. He didn't notice, but after his time training with Nihlus, his hurried steps barely made a sound.

* * *

"Reverse and hold at 38.5."

The staticky image showed odd, bipedal synthetics with strange weapons descending in ranks from their curved ships, marching callously over the dead and dying marines on the ground. Silence reigned in the conn, as the techs and command all let the shock wash over them.

"Geth." Nihlus said, with a curiously final nonchalance. Anderson nodded slowly, his mind racing over plans, contingencies, colonial evacuation policies.

"Sir, sensors indicate the Geth have made inroads into new Geneva and are establishing a perimeter around the dig site." The sensor tech, Addison Chase, reported crisply, the instilled professionalism only wavering slightly in the face of such an unprecedented and horrific situation. Anderson strode up to the galaxy map, his omni-tool flaring and highlighting something in front of him.

"Spy satellites report the advance on New Geneva and farming communities is a holding action." Dubyansky said from the monitor across from Shepard.

"Why spend the men and materiel…" Anderson muttered to himself as he panned over the data he'd presumably received.

"Our priority is the beacon." Nihlus said, the subharmonics giving an unexpected edge to the statement. Anderson gave him a look, his eyes hard, and pulled up schematics for the beacon they'd been tasked to receive.

"You've my permission to task up to ten marines and form a strike force to retrieve the beacon." Anderson said finally. He tapped a few more buttons and came in over the comms "Marine contingent, report to the Kodiak. You'll link up with the 222 in New Geneva and provide some relief forces. Standard support gear and ordnance. Take extra medi-gel."

Anderson issued a few more orders, but Shepard had shifted his attention to Nihlus, who'd motioned to him, Alenko and Jenkins.

"Come." He'd said, and hopped onto the elevator. Jenkins and Alenko saluted crisply, to which Nihlus nodded with respect.

"Prothean beacons are rare things – and usually what is retrieved from them is beyond classified." Nihlus began, as the elevator began the small eternity it took to get to the garage. "It's beyond interspecies competition. The beacons are dangerous, and contact with one unprepared shatters the mind of the recipient." Jenkins looked suitably awed. Alenko nodded crisply, going over his loadout as the SpecTRe talked. "We will be required to move the beacon onto the Normandy for study. Doing so requires shielding we don't have. You will hold the beacon against any and all Geth attempts to seize it, while we wait for an extraction from the _Normandy_.

"Why just the three of us, sir?" Jenkins asked, sweat beginning to form on his forehead.

"So we have a hope of getting into position at all." Nihlus said. "We'll link up with what's left of your Alliance's garrison at the dig site."

Jenkins nodded his understanding, but did not look reassured. Alenko patted him on the shoulder, and Jenkins nodded, looking slightly less pale.

The elevator opened, and the team got kitted out, slamming on helmets and armor latches, and double checking their standard Alliance-issued weaponry.

"Debark in 5." Joker's voice came over crisp and professional. The Alliance marines turned toward each other, slamming each other's shoulder pads – a pre-mission ritual, and turned to the broadening glow of daylight as the cargo hatch opened. Nihlus strode purposely forward, his tall silhouette casting a long shadow behind him.

"Keep up." Was all he said, as he jumped off the still-lowering cargo ramp.

"Aye aye sir." Shepard replied, and jumped off himself, slowing his descent with his biotics as he rocketed through the blessedly empty sky. Alenko landed soon after, alight with his corona. Jenkins gave a yell as the ground approached, and Shepard caught him with a gentle lift field, slowing the marine's descent. His eyes were wide, but he grinned at Shepard.

"That was awesome!" Shepard and Kaidan laughed slightly, but drew their weapons, Kaidan cocking his handgun as Jenkins pulled out his Avenger. Shepard pulled out his shotgun, smiling grimly as the servos whined at the weapon extended.

"You from here, Jenkins?" He asked.

"Aye sir. Grew up about a hundred klicks from here though." He said.

"Care to take point?" Jenkins nodded in reply, raising his rifle to his shoulder, and leading Shepard down the draw.

"Nihlus, do you copy?" Shepard radioed, his HUD showing no sign of friendlies.

"Affirmative. I'm scouting ahead. Dig site is in visual range. Geth have not dug in, though they left a contingent for us."

"Don't kill them all before we get there." Shepard said dryly as his squad advanced down the draw of the hill they were on, moving cautiously through the meager cover provided by the trees. According to the schematics created by the surveillance satellites overhead, there was a clearing up ahead, the natural brush and grasses flattened by the tracked mud of the researchers and their equipment.

Shepard held up a hand as they crouched on the hill. Several Geth had gathered and began methodically placing odd, forked structures into the ground. Could Geth _not_ do things methodically? Shepard wondered briefly before things developed. 3 scientists and two badly wounded soldiers were marched out into the clearing. Shepard motioned, and Jenkins and Alenko moved around the woods, setting up the Geth to be flanked.

It was then two of the Geth grabbed the wounded soldier and placed her on the stand. The woman had lost half her forearm, and was bleeding from a vicious wound in her side, but fought like mad from being placed on the platform. Shepard was about to give the order to fire when there was an audible click, and a spike shot up from the stand, impaling the brave woman. She gave several feeble gasps, twitched a bit, and fell silent. Alenko gave a look to the Commander. His expression was hidden by his helmet, but Shepard understood the shocked worry in it.

"NO!" Jenkins moved, firing and sliding down the slope, making his form near impossible to hit even as he advanced on the grouped Geth. "NO! _You bastards!_ " He roared, rolling out of his slide behind a rocky outcropping, and spraying the line of Geth with his rifle. 4 more spines impaled 4 more people in retaliation, the Geth shields holding despite Jenkins' fire. Jenkins roared again, and threw a grenade, destroying the cover the Geth had begun retreating behind.

As soon as Jenkins made his move, Shepard motioned to Kaidan, and the two circled, lining up the Geth. At the right moment, they both heaved with their biotics, their blue corona now attracting fire. The remaining Geth were thrown into each other with a crash, letting out their digitized vocalizations. Jenkins seized the opportunity, and launched another grenade into the dogpile, creating a brief rain of Geth scrap.

In the silence that followed, Shepard strode up to the impressionable marine and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's senseless, cruel, and I don't know why they're doing it to us." Shepard said, his voice stern, but not unkind. "But I need to know that I can count on you to follow orders." He made his visor transparent, giving a piercing look to the young marine, who's eyes were wide and pupils dilated.

"Yes." Jenkins shook his head. "Yes sir."

"Commander!" The LT yelled. Shepard whirled, as the spikes sank back into their platforms. The bodies had decayed a month in the minute they'd been up there, and blue wires now rain the length of their bodies, giving life to the dead flesh. An eerie blue glow came from the synthetic creations that stumbled in their first steps. Shepard swore, and instinctually sent a shockwave toward the nearest grouping. They went flying the remains of their flesh splitting and tearing from the shearing forces. Kaidan sent his own flare at the monsters, throwing two into the hard stones on the hillside. The last two advanced, a glowing blue electrical light gathering around them. Shepard put two blasts into them with his shotgun, the gun chewing into their desiccated bodies. They fell at his and Jenkins' feet.

There was a brief moment of silence, and Shepard radioed Nihlus.

"Sir, be advised: the Geth spikes produce hostiles."

"Commander?" Nihlus said, bemused. Shepard could have sworn he'd heard a worried subharmonic, but couldn't be sure.

"The spikes turn casualties into hostiles."

There was an audible click from the other end, and the sound of two precise gunshots.

"I see. Record what you can for the council briefing." Nihlus said.

"Yes sir." Shepard raised his omni-tool, taking scans of the spikes, the casualties, and the Geth present. Kaidan was patting Jenkins on the shoulder and saying something softly to the marine, who nodded. Scans completed, Shepard motioned, and they filed out of the draw, moving into a light jog over the proto-road the researchers and tracked into the hill. They continued like that for several minutes, following the road down into the valley, their HUDs tagging the entrance to the dig site proper as they rounded the corner of the long lush draw.

The squad began sprinting when they heard the tell-tale sound of an Avenger rifle cracking against the eerily quiet afternoon. As they rounded the final corner of the valley, they beheld a single soldier fighting desperately against an entire platoon of Geth troopers. Ducking behind a crate, she lobbed a grenade obliquely, then spun around the corner to line up the Geth into scope as they backed away from the explosive. Three fell to the fire as Shepard's squad sprinted into position, Shepard and Alenko swinging wide to provide a crossfire. As Shepard slid into position, he reached into the gentle tug of the planet's gravity, and flipped it in pull field where the Geth were advancing. The digitized calls of distress echoed up the valley, and Jenkins lays into the floating synthetics shredding the platforms. He ducks down beside the lone soldier, exchanging words neither Shepard nor Kaidan could hear. Alenko rolled forward, the blue corona of his biotics beginning to form as he did so. The move brought the remaining Geth attention on him, and he smiled as he stood, unleashing his own pull field. Before Jenkins and the soldier could react, he raised his omni-tool, sending a huge burst of electricity at the suspended electronics, who shivered and jerked at the impact. Shepard finished them off with a few blasts of his shotgun, as he advanced up to the rest of his squad.

"Commander Shepard of the SSV _Normandy_. We're here to secure the beacon."

"Gunnery Chief Williams of the Colonial 212." The soldier said, saluting tiredly, her eye still wide with shock and adrenaline.

"Where's the rest of the 212?" Shepard asked, looking about it.

"You're looking at what's left, sir." Williams said quietly. Alenko and Jenkins gave a sharp intake of breath. Shepard grimaced.

"I'm sorry Chief." Shepard glanced about again, and sighed. "What about the beacon?"

"Geth took it sir. Hooked it up to some sort of generator, and moved it to the tramway not a half-hour ago."

Shepard turned aside, speaking into his radio. "Nihlus, the beacon has been moved from the dig site. We've hooked up with what's left of the 212, and are heading to the tramway in pursuit."

"I copy Shepard." Static crackled over the comms the mic picked up a blast, and the digital scream of a Geth in pain. "Rendez-vous at the tramway in 5."

"Yes sir."

* * *

Nihlus put two more rounds into the still forms of the Geth he'd ambushed, just to be sure. He slid back between the trees, working his way into the flatlands where the tram station had been placed. Leave it to humans to need 4 different methods of transport to accomplish one task. Shepard though – he certainly was efficient, despite his rather _varied_ service record. He'd make a fine SpecTRe, even beyond the political expedience provided by his upbringing.

Nihlus ducked behind a tree as a Geth patrol cycled past, their incandescent heads giving them away. It was almost too easy to evade them, secure in his ECM suite and simple, old-fashioned stealth. The scrublands would be harder, in the 500 meters it would take to reach the squat forms of the prefabs and the boxy tramway. Time to test a new toy.

Engaging a mode on his suit, the SpecTRe shimmered and disappeared, a tactical cloak woven into his armor activating. He sprinted across the open space, footfalls no more noticeable than a slight gust of wind. He slid into position behind some well-placed research gear. He peered around the corner in the second before the cloak disappeared, and nearly dropped in shock. A Turian was standing in front of a Geth platform that was twice as large as the other troopers. Nihlus, without thinking set his omni-tool to record.

"I don't care where you place the nukes. Just make sure the radiation gets in the jet-stream. _They_ want life to be impossible on this planet for the next 500 years."

A chill tickled the inside of Nihlus' plates all at once. _Saren!_ Working with the Geth. Nihlus's mandibles flicked in frustration. What could possibly justify the genocide of everyone living on Eden Prime? What had happened to Saren. Nihlus crouched, indecisive for a moment, then squared his shoulders and marched out into the open, keeping in mind the first lesson Saren had ever taught him.

"Saren Arterius." Nihlus said, letting an uncertain subharmonic into his flanged voice. He saw the way the older SpecTRe stiffened, and turned to face him.

"Nihlus."

"What are you doing here?" Nihlus said, letting the slightest tremble into his voice. Suddenly Saren looked incredibly tired.

"What I am always called to do. That which must be done." Saren turned to face him, though he didn't meet Nihlus' eyes.

"Genocide?" Nihlus let the accusation hang.

Saren snarled and looked directly at his protégé. "If I have to end a million of the apes for the good of the galaxy I will. If I have to eradicate the entire spirits damned species, _I will._ If the death of a planet means the system will survive, that is the choice I _must_ make." Saren had taken two steps closer, and looked away, his voice quiet. "If I have to kill one whom I consider a son to complete my mission, I will." He looked up at Nihlus, pleading. "Don't make me."

Nihlus cocked his head, studying his former mentor, a father figure he'd come to respect above all others. He had changed. He looked closer.

"What happened to your eyes?" The rogue SpecTRe's eyes had always been dark and hard, courtesy of a life lived in the long shadow of the law, in the dark spaces of the galaxy. They were different now. His pupils have changed from angular slits to broad hourglasses, limned with a curious coppery glow.

"Another sacrifice." Saren said enigmatically. He stared at his protégé, eyes wary. "Join me Nihlus. Or join the spirits."

" _Spectres are unique among the spirits_." Nihlus was already moving. He ducked left, avoiding the sweep of the large Geth unit that had snuck up behind him. He went low, attaching a grenade to the thing's leg as he went by. He detonated it as he rolled up beside Saren, who's form and become lined with a blue glow. The big unit let out a synthetic scream as it's chassis blew apart, unheeded by the two Turians locked into combat.

" _They are the righteous damned_." Nihlus said, moving underneath the older SpecTRe's combo of punches, and slamming his electrically charged omni-tool directly into the side of Saren's armor. Saren jerked and leaped back, drawing his specialized hand cannon as he did. Nihlus was already rolling to the side. The bullets like small comets ate into the crates and equipment scattered about, leaving holes a foot in diameter.

" _Without house, home, hearth or heart, they wander_." Nihlus drew his shotgun, pumping 4 rounds into Saren's cover, and tossing a tech-mine on either side of him. Saren leaped directly over his cover and slammed into the ground near where Nihlus was already rolling away. The shockwave set off the tech mines, and Saren roared as his gear sputtered and died from the mini-EMPs. He launched a throw at Nihlus and clipped him.

" _Justice is their purview._ " Nihlus said from the ground. His shotgun had been tossed away from the throw, and he lifted his pistol from his side, flipping up to his feet. He caught a biotically assisted punch to his ribs. The armor deflected most of the blow, but the force of it sent him staggering. He ducked under Saren's swiping talon, and slammed his fist into the side of his former mentor's face. The turian's unhelmeted head rocked sideways from the blow. Saren scrabbled, and grabbed Nihlus' arm, throwing him to the ground.

" _Death is their realm._ " Nihlus rose once again, to be hit dead on with a shockwave. His armor shattered and fractured with the force, and he was slammed into a stack of crates sending them tumbling. He stood back up, sliding sideways to miss the warp that ate through the research equipment. He fired three times, preparing his omni-tool as he did. As Saren flew towards him with a flying kick, he ducked underneath and launched a gout of superheated plasma that scored and melted bits of the rogue SpecTRe's armor.

" _The unrighteous flee whither they might_." Saren stumbled and rolled over onto his back, coughing.

" _But darkness is no refuge in a spectre's night_." Nihlus put two rounds into Saren's leg. He roared and convulsed in pain. Nihlus took two steps closer, omni-tool prepared to issue the commands that would lock up Saren's armor and restrain him. Then Saren _moved_ , twisting, taking out Nihlus' knees, rising up to meet him. The massive pistol tapped Nihlus' armor, and fired, once, twice. Nihlus gasped as half his insides exited out the back of his armor. He stumbled back, hands dropping his pistol and going to the two gory wounds.

" _They know not mercy_." Saren said, picking up where Nihlus left off.

" _They know not fear nor pain._ " He continued, sheathing his pistol, and grasping the younger Turian by the shoulders.

" _They know only justice._ " Saren stared at his dying protégé, his eyes brighter than they would have otherwise been.

" _And woe to him in their way._ " Saren finished, as Nihlus convulsed in his arms. Nihlus snarled one last, incomprehensible sentence and died, falling with a final _thunk_ onto the metal floor of the tram station.

Saren bowed his head, and jerked as he heard a beeping. He swore and dove, grabbing the bit of explosive stuck to him with is left hand, lifting it to throw, when it exploded.

* * *

"Nihlus!" Shepard yelled as he heard the blast and the tramway came into eyesight. He raced forward, activating his barrier as the multitude of Geth sent a wave of fire his direction. They were carrying something away in a hastily erected stasis field.

His squad ducked behind cover, when Joker radioed them.

"Shit! Commander a dreadnought of unknown origin and make just entered the system going 5 times faster than the speed record." There was some more swearing from the line, and Joker continued: "We're going to go stealth and hide on the dark side of the moon here. No comms until the thing passes."

"Understood." Shepard said, then clutched at the pickups on his helmet as a deafening boom shattered all sound and sense. A huge dark shape blotted out the sun, long fingers of a massive hand extending and stretching miles. There was a second thundering crash, and a shockwave that sent everyone – Geth, Shepard and his squad, the crates, flying. The thing the Geth were carrying remained unmoved, safe in its defiance of gravity and mass.

A single ray of light opened from underneath the massive construction, and the stasis field floated up, along with two platforms. Shepard started to take a stride forward, when a sense-rending shriek exploded from the ship. The humans all bucked and clasped their ears, trying to escape the noise. There was another earth rending shake, and the ship took off, breaking the sound barrier and casually flying out of the atmosphere.

"What the hell was that?" Williams said shakily, as the humans all got to their feet. Shepard, breathing shakily, shook his head.

"Nothing I've ever seen before."

"Commander!" Jenkins said. He took a breath to steady himself, "I've got a read on the beacon! It's on the other end of this tramway."

"Let's hope the thing still works."

The squad made their way across the tram station, to the open-air cart that had survived the firefights and the dreadnaught's surprise landing. Kaidan checked it over.

"Appears to be in once piece, Commander." Shepard lifted a hand, gesturing onto cart.

"All aboard." He bowed sardonically.

* * *

The tram ride began and ended faster than it ought to have. One minute they were sliding along warily looking through the shattered idyll of Eden Prime, ears still ringing from the dreadnought causally defying physics. After a few jolts from the track being misaligned, the ride was smooth, taking them over a lake sparkling in the afternoon sun. Shepard searched beneath the water as they slid over the suspended rails, deciding to assume nothing about this mission. He'd holstered his shot gun, and had his own Avenger resting beside him, ready if he needed it. Williams had set up a sniper rifle on the forward rail, and was scanning the horizon line, looking for hostiles. Jenkins was doing the same behind them, while Kaidan updated their map, keeping an eye on the beacon they were set to be retrieving.

"Comms chatter is telling me the Geth have retreated from New Geneva and Los Devas." Alenko said, looking up from his omni-tool. "Scanners are shot, so no telling the resistance we'll face –"

"Contact!" Williams shouted. There was an echoing blast, and she twisted slightly, adjusting the scope. Kaidan and Shepard hit the deck, while Jenkins swung his rifle on around, lining up his own shot. There came two more consecutive blasts, and then Williams shipped her rifle.

"That's all the time we can buy you commander. It'll stop them from blasting the tram, but not much else." She unshipped her shotgun. Apparently they were densely packed, Shepard surmised.

"Jenkins what do you see?"

"They're going to try and pin us with a crossfire as soon as we pull in, now that they know better than to try to destroy the tram outright." The young man was shaking. He wasn't saying something.

"Tell me everything Jenkins!" Shepard shouted as their tram began braking.

"We're not gonna make it sir."

"The hell we are! I didn't come all this way to give up an die when we're only outnumbered!"

Jenkins nodded. "It's been an honor sir."

Time moved in slow motion as the tram moved into the station. At least 50 Geth had lined up to meet them, some over the walkway above the tram lines, some on the opposite side, some attempting to board. Jenkins saluted to Shepard, then leaped off the tram as it was still moving. He rolled on the platform, and came up, assault rifle shooting controlled bursts, tearing into the Geth shields. Kaidan and Shepard stood, both activating their barriers, and reaching out to disrupt the Geth lines nearest. But Jenkins was already moving, sprinting. He was spraying fire now, not caring about his aim. Nor did he have to – the Geth were so numerous. He staggered as bullets penetrated his shields, but kept moving, pulling something from his belt.

Shepard's eyes widened, and he shoved Williams and Alenko down as the pieces clicked. There came a sharp _boom,_ as all the grenades Jenkins had left exploded at once, chunking the 10 geth around him. There was a crackle, the smell of ozone, and the sound of 1000 blowtorches activating at once, as Jenkins' last act ruptured the plasma conduit that ran the tram. A massive flare of bright light passed over their eyes, and then the tram was eerily quiet.

Shepard forced them up and out of the cover-less tram car. They dodged a few bullets as the remaining Geth forces scrambled to recover, but they seemed sluggish, less responsive. Williams and Shepard put a few rounds into them with their assault rifles, while Alenko flushed them out of cover. It was over in a few short minutes.

Shepard walked over to where Jenkins lay, his body almost unrecognizable from the burns he'd received. He knelt, placing a gloved hand on his fallen friend, wishing he knew something to say. He heard Kaidan come up behind him.

"His first mission and he's already a hero." He said, his voice unnaturally thick. "Always moving too fast."

Shepard nodded, and opened his omni-tool, the dog-tags implanted in Jenkins receiving and verifying Shepard's signal, which then transmitted to the Normandy.

 _PVT 1_ _st_ _Class Richard Jenkins confirmed KIA_ , his HUD read.

"Commander, are these Nukes?" Williams asked suddenly, causing them all to jump, then swear. It turned out they weren't armed. But their presence was chilling enough. Shepard had the Lieutenant disarm them while he and Williams advanced to the soft red blip on their maps which marked the presence of the Beacon.

They rounded the corner, and came face to face with an empty Geth transport docked to the side of the station. It appeared empty of all life, synthetic or otherwise. Shepard noted the docking clamps control board, and disengaged them, just to see what would happen. Williams gave him a slight grin as he did so, and the Geth drop-ship fell, tumbling, onto the mountainside beneath them. Alenko, who rounded the corner, rolled his eyes at the wanton destruction, but smiled as he did so.

"Normandy, we have secured the package. Better yet, there's a loading berth for a shuttle. Sending you coordinates and –"

Shepard looked back, realizing that Williams had approached the beacon. He was about to shout a warning at her, when she was seized by some alien force. His mutant nerves sung as he felt gravity shift, and caught a hint of a green-limned corona about the beacon. He swore, and sprinted forward, throwing the Gunnery Chief out of the way of –

A spike of energy entered his mind, scanning, searching. Shepard briefly felt the gravity reversal, and his feet leaving the ground, when a vision, with desperate energy slammed itself into his mind. He screamed soundlessly, his voice joining a chorus millions strong, and consciousness left him.

"How's he doing Doctor?" Anderson's stares down at Shepard's prone form, his face more lined than usual.

"His brain waves have stabilized, and he seems to have gone into REM sleep. There's a slight irregularity, though." Anderson looked sharply at the doctor.

"Whatever the beacon did to him seems to have lodged in his memory. He's dreaming, but he's dreaming memories." She said.

"His life is flashing before his eyes?" Anderson frowned, and looked back at his unconscious XO.

"It being the anniversary of Mindoir probably didn't help." Chakwas tightened her lips, then shooed the Captain out of the med-bay. "Go on! He won't get better by you standing there fretting!"

* * *

Alexander sat with his knees up against his chest, saying and staring at nothing. It had been six months since Mindoir, and still he hadn't said a word. The Alliance, busy with protecting their other colonies, sent the orphans of Mindoir through the system. Those with families went to them. Those without got sent to orphanages based on their psych evaluations and profiles.  
And that was why there was muted screaming coming from the room next to him.  
There was muffled shouting, the sound of tiny fists pounding impotently against the wall, and a slamming door. A harried caretaker emerged, her graying blonde hair having been pulled unevenly from its coif. She ran a hand through it and sighed. She looked around, and started a bit when she saw Alexander sitting in the corner. Smiling, she crouched down next to him.

"Don't mind Dave. He's..." She looked to the side, hearing the dull thumps of Dave pounding the walls. "He's got more anger than his little body knows what to do with." She finished. Her smile was damp, now. "But how about you? Are you ready to talk?" She held out her hands. Tentatively, Alexander put his own in them. He says nothing.

"No?" She gives his hands a little shake, "Well, I'll be here if you decide otherwise." Sliding her thumb over his knuckles, she gives him another sad smile, then slowly picks herself up.

There's a chime, and her right wrist glows orange with the light of her omni-tool. She cocks her head to one side when reading the message, then strides off, towards the front of the orphanage. Alexander lets his chin sink back into his knees. Dave stopped pummeling the walls, and the muffled sound of his louder sobs was the only thing that disturbed the quiet.

Quite suddenly, there were 3 pairs of footsteps. 3 creaks from the stressed floorboards in the entry hall. The sound of soft conversation, all female voices. The Caretaker emerged from the hallway with two asari trailing her. One half-grown, holding her mother's hand.

"Alexander? Some friends have come to see you." The caretaker crouched down next to him. The younger asari left her mother's hands and threw her small blue arms around Alexander's crouched form. the caretaker smiled.

"You already know Nalanissa." she said, then stood. "This is her mother, Lyvanis." She smiled as Alexander lowered his arms to accept Nala's embrace. "They want to adopt you."

* * *

"Doctor Chakwas! Doctor Chakwas! I think he's waking up!"


	3. Chapter 3: Chasing Counsel

Shepard came to slowly, Ashley's strident shout driving daggers of pain into his head. He blinked, and fell back into the thin pillow of the Medical bed. Why were the pillows always so thin in medical beds? Opening his eyes once more, he stared up into the kindly face of Captain Anderson. He blinked slowly again, and the Captain's face was replaced by Doctor Chakwas' who's face bore a caregiver's confident concern.

"How are you feeling Commander? You had us worried there for a while."

Shepard decided he should sit up and face whatever music was coming. He hoped it was a waltz. He could dance to that. "Ah. Minor throbbing." He turned his head both ways, letting his eyes focus on his surroundings. It took a little longer than it should have. "Nothing serious. How long was I out?"

"About fifteen hours. You _interacted_ with the beacon somehow."

"That's my fault Commander. I must have triggered some sort of security field when I approached it. You had to push me out of the way." Ashley jumped in to say. Guilt colored her voice, as did an odd sort of relief.

"You had no way of knowing that would happen." Shepard said.

"Actually, we don't even know if that's what set it off." Chakwas interjected.

"-And we won't. The beacon exploded." Anderson said as the med-bay doors closed behind him.

"We're not sure if that's what knocked you out, or whatever happened when you got too close." The good doctor said, begging scans on Shepard.

"Alenko and I had to carry you onto the shuttle they sent." Chief Williams said.

"And I'm sure the Commander will get a full debriefing. _After_ I release him." Doctor Chakwas gave everybody _a look_. Everybody stepped back, avoiding eye contact.

"What's the damage, Doctor?" Shepard said, intervening before Chakwas tried to give herself some job security.

"Physically? You're fine." The doctor pulled up his chart on her omni-tool, and began inputting notes into it while she talked. "We did find some abnormal brain activity however. There were odd beta waves, and a spike in REM. Usually that's indicative of intense dreaming. Do you remember any of it?"

"There was…. Death, destruction. A choir of agonized screams. Despair." Shepard laughed hollowly. "Then came the vision" He tried to remember, and his eyes suddenly lost their ability to focus again. He shook his head. "It's… wrapped around my memories. Synthetics slaughtering people. Worlds burning."

Doctor Chakwas frowned at him, and took another scan, seeming unhappy with the results. "Tell me if you have these dreams again Commander. Given what happened down there, we'll need you in the coming days."

Shepard smiled. "Yes ma'am."

Anderson took that as his cue to step forward. "I need to debrief you, Commander." He stared pointedly and Chief Williams, who saluted.

"Aye aye Captain. I'll be in the mess if you need me." She turned and made her way out of the medbay. Shepard noticed that she moved stiffly, and her eyes seemed lost, like they didn't know where to look. He made a note to check on her when – his vision stopped cooperating for a second, and his head throbbed - When moving wasn't as much of an issue, he decided. Doctor Chakwas gave him one last appraising look before moving into her office behind them. Captain Anderson waited for a second, then

"I'm not going to lie to you Shepard, It looks bad."

Loose thoughts that had been drifting freely around finally connected in his head. "Where's Nihlus?" He snapped his head up. And regretted it immediately. "Were you able to get a team to-"

"He's dead." The Captain said heavily. "We were able to rescue some of his hardsuit data, though it's nothing that will hold up in a tribunal." Anderson pulled Dr. Chakwas' rolling chair over to the bed Shepard was sitting on and sta down. "Which is what you'll be facing once we arrive at the Citadel. There's a SpecTRe dead and the named suspect is Saren Arterius, one of, if not the most famous of the SpecTRes and Nihlus' mentor." Anderson took a deep breath. "It doesn't help that, under council law, I am required to represent you as your CO. And since I have a past with Saren, I'm suspect too."

Shepard sighed and rubbed his eyes. Time to put that training in Galactic law that Nihlus drilled into his head. "Alright sir. Here's everything as I remember it…"

* * *

When Shepard had finished, Anderson traded a few words of comfort for Jenkins, for whom he'd put in an application for the Legion of Honor, the second most prestigious award the Alliance had. Then Anderson put all the facts on the table, so that Shepard could assemble a coherent case with what he knew from his SpecTRe training. They then consulted at JAG who specialized in galactic law via comm buoy, before they went through the relay into the Serpent Nebula. The JAG made a few alterations to their case, telling them not to rely too much on the fact that Shepard was a serious candidate for SpecTRe training – He didn't actually have all the requisite powers that came with the office.

By the time they'd sorted their defense, Shepard was much better, and he went up to the bow, where he found Alenko, Williams, and Joker all bantering and watching the relay approach. Their jokes had a curious dampened quality to them – grief making itself known.

Their trajectory put them on a course parallel with the Relay. It shone stark difference to the vacuum around it, a brilliant blue reflected down the curiously matte metal of the relay, adjusting trajectory as the Normandy entered the mass corridor that it reactively projected as the _Normandy_ came close. The conversation instinctively died as they went through the relay. Kaidan and Shepard's nerves tingled, the feel of so much eezo activating making their nerves sing in time. The vortex of whirling blue spun and danced, and all too soon, they rocketed back into real space, the glistening cloud of the Serpent Nebula throwing eerie shadows on the massive white space station that hung in the midst of it, its four arms – wards, opened like some alien flower, glinting with tiny sparkling lights as its denizens lived their lives.

"It's beautiful." Williams said, voicing what all of them were thinking.

They passed the Destiny Ascension, the massive ship unique among the Asari dreadnoughts for its sheer size and power. Moving underneath its enormous shadow, they requested a berth, and made their way through the protocol of acquiring a docking bay at the heart of Galactic commerce and military might.

The group was laughing at Jokers back and forth with the call towers when the Captain paged them over the intercom, telling them to wear their dress blues and pack their hardsuits and requisite data. Kaidan and Ashley gave Shepard a look, who nodded, steeling himself internally, remembering his lessons. _Live. The. Lie_. Command wasn't so different.

There was an unexpectedly large group of people waiting to meet them as they stepped off the ship. Camera drones began filming, light shining directly into the eyes of Shepard and his squad. Shepard groaned. It was almost as bad as after Elysium. Thinking quickly, he drew up into a full salute, and was slightly surprised when Kaidan and Ashley, and then Anderson did as well. Uncertain applause broke out at first, then solidified, gaining traction as they stood rigid. It crescendoed into a full roar, all the journalists and gawkers putting down their cameras to clap for the Alliance Marines. Anderson dropped the salute first, automatically moving into parade positions. He swung out and around, in the stiff jointed formal manner, and dismissed them from the ship with full military procession. As he was doing so, a slick black aircar with Atmo privileges pulled into the bay, landing in front of the crowd and the cordon that separated the marines from the journalists. Cries of disappointment went up as a turian in C-Sec armor stepped out and escorted them into the air-car.

"Good thinking, Shepard." Anderson said, as soon as the car's gull-wing doors shut out the noise of the bay.

"You have experience in that sort of thing, Commander?" Ashley asked.

He nodded. "Elysium." Was all he said.

Kaidan gave him a searching look, then nodded. "Besides chief, all that pageantry is for the civilians anyway."

Anderson gave the Lieutenant and the Gunnery Chief shrewd looks before looking out of the aircar window wistfully. "This is going to be bad. The Ambassador never sent a car for me, even when it was me on the chopping block."

Shepard gave the captain a humorless smile. "That was only needless civilian deaths. This was a Geth invasion."

Anderson gave an equally humorless laugh. "You always did have a penchant for nose-diving into trouble."

There was a tense silence in the car as the humans contemplated the coming tribunal.

"Arriving: Presidium Embassies." The VI in the car said smoothly as it touched down outside the entrance to the Embassy offices for all the galactic races, a huge complex of offices and gardens that shone in the Station's mid-afternoon light. The station curved up and around, massive lakes and plants dominating the center of the ring – a gross display of wealth and luxury on a space station. An asari in a formal and austere dress ushered them out of the air-car and up the hall, practically pushing them into the Ambassador's chambers, where they found the balding and apoplectic human engaged in a holo-call with the Council itself.

"This is an outrage! The council would act if the geth had attacked a turian colony!"

"The turians do not establish colonies at the edge of the Terminus systems, Ambassador." The salarian somehow sounded eminently polite while still making the title sound like a curse.

"Humanity was well aware of the risks when you went into the Traverse." The asari councilor, Tevos, Shepard thought her name was, was doing her best to sound conciliatory while cutting off discussion.

"Councilors, the people of Eden Prime were slaughtered. Not by pirates. Not by batarians. Not even by the filth that seeps in from the Terminus. They were slaughtered by _Geth._ A race of sentient AIs that this council promised the Galaxy was _contained!_ Then, when we are victimized by _your_ failure, you refuse to offer so much as a convoy in aid. I demand action! And not for my sake. But so that humanity does not view their relationship with the Citadel as a parasitic one."

"You don't get to make demands of the Council." The turian councilor said, an unyielding edge to his voice.

"And what of Saren?" Udina asked, his face now well and thoroughly flushed. "Are you going to ignore a rogue SpecTRe too?"

"Enough. C-Sec is investigating your charges against Saren. We will discuss their findings at the hearing. Not before." Tevos gave a reproving look at the human ambassador, who gazed defiantly back up at her. The call finished on that sour note, and the human Ambassador took a long breath before turning to face the Alliance soldiers now behind him.

"Captain Anderson. I see you've brought half your crew with you." He said, walking to his desk.

"Just the ground team from Eden Prime. In case you had questions." Anderson said, keeping his tone level.

"I have the mission reports. I assume they're accurate?"

Shepard eyed up the disdainful Ambassador, trying to get a read on the man. His training gave him only glimpses – an ardent, career politician, one who found leverage by being intractable, and most probably of the type by which the chief metric was how useful others were to the cause.

"They are. Sounds like you convinced the Council to investigate Saren." Anderson said.

"It lost me their goodwill, which lead to that charming conversation you just heard. But yes. They're having C-Sec investigate a SpecTRe." Bitter sarcasm laced his tone as he finished the sentence.

"They seem adept at burying their heads in sand." Shepard offered, still staring at the presidium from the balcony.

"Quite." Udina said tersely. He opened his mouth to say something, when Shepard continued, still in that quiet, distant voice.

"If they don't do something, I will."

There was a half-second's shocked silence before the Ambassador stepped forward, flush beginning to creep into his face again. "Settle down, Commander. You've done more than enough to jeopardize you SpecTRe candidacy already. Your mission to Eden Prime was supposed to show you could get the job done. Instead, Nihlus is dead and the beacon destroyed!"

"That's Saren and the Geth's fault, not his!" Anderson stepped forward, anger beginning to carve sharp ridges in his voice.

"Then you'd better hope that this C-Sec investigation turns up evidence to support our case. Otherwise the council will use this to discredit humanity, and my own efforts, further." With a sigh of disgust, Udina dropped into his chair behind his desk, his eyes now focused on his terminal.

"Stay here Captain. I want to go over a few things before the hearing."

Anderson turned to his Marines. "Dismissed. Report back for the hearing."

"I'll make sure you have clearance to get in." Udina added, not looking up from his terminal.

Ashley, Kaidan and Shepard all turned, saluted, and then filed out of the spacious office. As the door slid to a close behind them, Ashley muttered,

"and that's why I hate politicians."

"Hey, look at it this way chief: Now we've only got to wait around for 6 hours. Anderson has to deal with the Ambassador up until the trial." Kaidan said.

Ashley did not find his amusing.

"I'm not planning on waiting for justice. Not here." Shepard said, striding off across the Embassy lobbies, carrying the suitcase his hardsuit was in. Finding a private place, he set about changing into his hardsuit. Bewildered, Ashley and Kaidan followed suit.

"Hey Commander. Why is your sabre not up to regs?" Williams asked, as Shepard smoothly placed his folded dress blues and gear into the case that had held his hardsuit.

Shepard snorted. "Because I was foolish enough to go into battle still in my dress blues. The civvies thought it was heroic and the brass are punishing me for that special sort of stupidity by making me an exemption to the standard uniform." He unbuckled the scabbard from the baldric, and threw the whole thing to Ashley, who looked surprised, but caught it. It was a standard dress sabre, leather wrapped hilt and gold colored cross and handguard. But this one looked like it had been through hell and back. Parts of the knuckle guard had been torn off by some unknown force, and all the gold sheen of the guard was completely pitted and stained, bits of the dull grey metal beneath showing through. The leather wrap was worn and sweat-stained, the fabric cushion underneath poking through in places. Curious, she drew the blade. It came out smoothly. Quickly too, as the blade was broken off about halfway up. She shook the scabbard. It rattled.

"You used that on Elysium?" Kaidan asked too casually.

"Yes." Shepard said. "I had that and an old sidearm the Embassy happened to have."

"So you made the best of a bad situation." Ashley said.

"Yes. Come on." Seeing his squad had suited and geared up, he took the sabre back from Chief Williams, closed his case, dropped it off at the Embassy lockers, and took off across the lake.

"Where are we headed?" Ashley asked.

"To someone who will know something about Saren."

The humans crossed the elegant bridge, dodging the upper-class foot traffic that wandered by, all of whom looked askance at the fully armored marines toting weapons. Shepard strode on, undeterred. He made his way across the lakes, and headed toward the financial districts. He moved past the sprawling open-air market, where only the most expensive merchants hawked their goods, and into the banking district. Tall, willowy buildings competed for elegance and luxury, each with advertising that claimed to be the most secure in the most locations. Shepard did not heed them, moving through the concentrated grandiosity with unconscious ease. Ashely and Kaidan, having never been on the Citadel before, were still drinking in the sights more than they would have admitted.

They rounded the final corner, making their way to a small building that was richly appointed but dwarfed by the fantastic architecture around. There was a small placard on the door that read

" _Barla Von, Financial Advisor"_

Shepard knocked three times on the door. The placard slid to one side and a biometric scanner which noted and observed Shepard briefly, then closed. A VI's voice said,

"Do you vouch for your guests?"

"Yes." Shepard said simply.

And the door slid open.

Shepard strode confidently in, taking his helmet off as he did so. The interior, like the exterior, was richly appointed, with dark marble flooring and large, comfortable armchairs designed for all races lining the antechamber.

"I might have business with you, (shrk) Shepard." A volus said over the intercom. Curiously the sound of his respirator was muted, less harsh than other volus'. "But I do not know (shrk) these others."

"They were on Eden Prime. They have my full trust, and I vouch for them."

Behind her helmet, Ashley glanced at the Commander, pleasant surprise on her face.

"Plus you might get to interview them before the Council."

There was a pause. "Might?"

"You have some information I need. Thought that might be a good trade." Shepard said nonchalantly.

Instead of responding, the hard-light panel on the door flicked green, and opened.

The office was spacious, and had a large window on one side, and a impressionistic painting showing the subtle greens and browns of Irune on the other. Shepard strode ahead confidently, and casually threw himself into the chair opposite the diminutive volus.

"As it so happens, I have some information for free. (shrk) My employer has a loose end he wants dealt with."

"And he suggested me for the job?" Shepard asked. He feigned humility.

"He suggested (shrk) you might have a mutual interest in seeing it tied up. There are already assets in place."

"And what would I get for premium service?" Shepard said, gesturing towards himself and Ashley and Kaidan.

"That (shrk) depends on what you're trading."

"An interview with me, any questions about Eden Prime. And my squad, if they're willing." It was a calculated gamble on Shepard's part. Given that they were going to publicly testify before the highest body in Council space, it wouldn't be breaking classified information to non-alliance sources.

Well, it might be _bending_ classification protocols.

"(shrk) and in return?" Barla Von asked.

"I want everything you have on Saren."

The volus let out a little chuckle. "I don't think (Shrk) that will be quite enough for _everything_ , but I will pass the communication on, (shrk) and see what my employer is willing to trade."

"I'm willing." Kaidan said. Everyone looked at him. Shepard noted with approval that he must have followed the same logic. The LT took his helmet off. "I'm willing to be interviewed, if it means some more information on Saren and that ship of his."

Ashley nodded, cottoning on to the idea. "Count me in, Commander."

"Very well. (shrk) I will contact my employer and approve the trade." Barla Von didn't move. "Please wait in the antechamber."

Shepard nodded, and stood up, leading the humans out of the inner office.

"Commander. Is his employer who I think he is?" Kaidan asked as they exited.

"Barla Von is independent." Shepard said, straight faced, and nodding.

"What am I missing here?" Ashely asked. "Why does he deal in information if he's a financial broker?"

"Brokers live and die off of information, Williams." Shepard said. "Barla Von is just better than most."

"His employer is the Shadow Broker." Kaidan whispered to her.

Her eyes went wide. "I thought he was just a myth!"

"Who says he isn't?" Shepard said quietly.

"And you're buying information –"

"The Council isn't doing anything. So I am." Shepard said, in that same calm and dangerous voice from Udina's office.

"But-"

Shepard held up a hand. "I'll explain everything later."

The door chimed, signaling they were allowed to go in. Barla Von hadn't moved, though now he had his fingers steepled contemplatively.

"My employer, (shrk) approved your trade. Apparently Saren has made an enemy of himself."

"That is the act of a foolish or desperate man." Shepard said, plopping his helmet down on the desk.

"Yes." Was all Barla Von said. He activated his omni-tool, sending Shepard the relevant files.

"As for our mutual arrangement, (shrk) there are two people you need to get in contact with." Barla Von pulled up a screen on his terminal, and projected the image in front of him. "This is Urdnot Wrex. (shrk) He has been sent to eliminate another loose end: Halward Fist." Another image popped up, this one of a brutish looking human.

"Why do we need to help him? "

"Fist acted as a go between for a quarian and my employer. (Shrk) This quarian had some compromising data on Saren she offered to my employer. (Shrk) It seems Saren was more compelling to him."

"He doesn't seem that bright." Shepard agreed.

"Wrex is currently being interrogated by C-Sec." the volus breathed, then minimized the images, pulling up a file on a turian with blue colony markings.

"This is Officer Garrus Vakarian. (Shrk) I'll forward you his career notes." Shepard nodded. As a C-Sec officer, those would be matters of public record anyway.

"He (Shrk) has been put in charge of the investigation (Shrk) of Saren."

"So we need to have him as witness to whatever information we dig up, while handling Fist."

"Yes. (shrk) The quarian has the information you seek. She has not released it. (Shrk)"

Shepard tilted his head. It seemed the quarian had wisdom beyond her years.

They completed their interviews quickly, separately, and without formalities. Barla Von recorded their responses with some hardware he had in his office. The questions were direct, and they answered frankly. Barla Von thanked them, and told Shepard that his employer would remember this. The commander almost believed that the volus was giving him a significant look, and wondered what the broker knew of his now jeopardized promotion. The pressure suit masked any of the more revealing details, however. Shepard gave him a nod, and they exited the building quickly.

"That was shady, Commander." The Gunnery Chief said, confronting him as they lost eyesight of the volus' office.

Shepard nodded. "I know. I wouldn't have done it if I had thought there was another way. But, the information we gave him we've already passed to the Alliance and the Council. The thing we were really selling was time for his network to react before the public at large became fully aware." Shepard grimaced. "In return, we get time to get a head-start on Saren.

"Time for time." Alenko murmured, nodding. He looked to the Commander. "So who to first? The Turian or the Krogan?"

Shepard thought for moment, and decided they should go see what C-Sec had unearthed on Saren.

* * *

They dropped by C-Sec HQ, and asked around about the investigation into Saren. The Executor gave them cold looks, and referred them to one Garrus Vakarian, who apparently had a reputation for being more stubborn than most Turians. Ashley decided she would like this new officer, as the Executor made several not-quite-hostile comments about humans.  
Shepard somehow managed to maintain an unfailingly polite façade throughout the conversation. When asked about it later, all he grunted was "Practice."

As they were leaving C-Sec to find a certain clinic on the lower wards, the humans dodge around a knot of C-Sec officers confronting an old, battle-scarred krogan. Shepard stopped as the krogan glanced up at him – undoubtedly marking them as hardened targets. The turian C-Sec officers wore their own armor-plated and lightly-shielded BDUs, but only the Alliance marines and the krogan had combat-grade hardsuits on. Shepard knew instinctively that this was the Shadow Broker's man, but Kaidan pulled up Barla Von's files to make sure. He nodded to Shepard, and they stopped, and waited at the edge of the knot.

"I want you to _try._ " The krogan growled to the human C-Sec officer that was staring him down. There was a brief battle of wills, and the tired officer decided that he wasn't paid near enough to go mano-a-mano with the scarred and dangerous looking krogan in front of him.

"We'll be watching, Wrex." He said impotently.

"You do that." The battlemaster said, an amused gleam in his eye.

The C-Sec officers muttered and wisely wandered off to attend to their less-dangerous duties.

"Urdnot Wrex?" Shepard asked, striding up to the krogan as the officers left. The krogan grunted his affirmation.

"I hear you have some questions for the proprietor of Chora's Den."

Wrex stared at him balefully.

"Your employer gave us your name. We have some questions of our own. We're going to find the C-Sec officer who might also have some questions of his own." Shepard motioned. "Come with us, and we'll watch your back."

"Why should I wait?" the krogan asked mulishly.

"Because if things get ugly, I want a C-Sec officer on our side of the firefight. That way we don't have to fight them, too."

"Not interested in a little challenge?" Wrex asked, prodding.

Shepard grunted, and smiled wryly. "Nah, I just don't have the option to outlive my arrest warrant."

The krogan chuckled, and assented to join their hunt.

* * *

The clinic was a mess. 4 dead men lay in the house of healing. They were thugs, really, sent to keep the good doctor quiet. Which meant they were getting close. They got a better descriptor of the quarian as well – she had _geth_ data that could incriminate Saren, wore a purple veil, and was on her pilgrimage. She'd been hunted for days, and had taken a sniper shot to the arm on the presidium.  
Shepard grimly thought that alone should've revealed Saren's hand – very few criminal organizations had the outright power to shoot someone on the Citadel's presidium.

But they left the detective work for later, and sprinted towards Chora's Den. The quarian, (who hadn't given her name to Dr. Michel) had already been shot once. If her intel was as hot as it seemed, Shepard didn't like her odds of making it through the day, alone, with no backup, stuck in a crossfire between the shadow broker and a rogue Council SpecTRe.

They slowed as they approached the seedy back-alley that Chora's den was situated in. There was a krogan bouncer, and Shepard didn't want to start a firefight with unarmed civvies in the middle. Garrus laughed at that, and said bitterly that the bigger danger was involving representatives from other organized crime into the fight.

While they were arguing, Ashley sized up the krogan and bare-faced turian guarding the entrance to the club, rolled her shoulders, took off her helmet, and walked up to the bouncers.

"Uh, Commander?" Kaidan said,

Wrex gave a bark of laughter, and strode after the impetuous human. Garrus looked at Shepard reprovingly, and Shepard scowled and motioned for them to approach the entrance. He'd just have to improvise. Like he'd been doing since Elysium. He sighed.

"She can go in." The turian said motioning Ashley on, but held out his hand (his other on his side-arm) "but you look like a battle squad.

Wrex found that funny for some reason.

Shepard stepped forward, and stared the turian down. "I have a meeting with my counterparts in 5 minutes." He said testily, letting a lethal edge undercut his words. "I'm not stupid enough to stroll in here without back-up."

"Fist is neutral." The turian said, his eyes giving the impression he was wary, but only wary as one confronted with a stray dog.

"Listen, bare-face." Garrus said, leaning in close to the turian. "You see this uniform? I can't afford to be seen arguing with some bouncer to let a known gang member in. You want the cash to keep flowing nice and quiet, don't you?"

The bouncer looked uncertain, and glanced at his krogan buddy. The krogan was busy staring down Wrex, who had not moved, but appeared to be winning.

"There's a lot more where I come from. Not all of them are so congenial." Garrus said.

The bouncer came to a decision, and let them in.

"No trouble now, you hear?" He said lamely. They didn't bother replying.

The interior of Chora's Den was dim, with flashing, colored LEDs whose cheer never seemed to reach the floor. The place reeked of desperation, and Shepard glanced with dismay at the asari dancers. They were young, and the tired and worn-ragged look about them was only mostly hidden by the poor lighting. Shepard's education on Thessia had impressed upon him the dangers, loneliness and emptiness of the path that drew far too many Asari youth, but they had remained only dire warnings from the matriarchs.

"A million light years from where humanity began and we walk into a bar filled with men drooling over half-naked women shaking their asses on a stage. I can't decide if that's funny or sad." Ashley said as the rest of their eyes adjusted to the flashing lights.

"It's sad." Shepard said quietly, and made his way to the back rooms, where Fist was said to be. He was about to stop and attempt to talk his way into the back as he'd done before, but Wrex kept going, blowing past the two human guards who nervously pointed their weapons at him. Shepard followed, and as they turned to confront this new, more manageable sized threat, he waved his arm, sending out a weak biotic pulse that knocked them face first into the ground.

"Stay down." Ashley growled at the guards as they marched by, unshipping their weapons for further confrontations. Fist didn't command much loyalty it seemed. They stayed down.

The battle with Fist was over almost before it began. He yelped, put up turrets that were promptly blown through by the hightly armed and trained alliance marines, a crack turian police officer, and a krogan battlemaster. The spacious office was hardly great for providing cover, either.

"Wait! Wait! Don't kill me I surrender!"

The 'crime lord' tried to lie to them once, afterward. Only once though. He told them where he'd sent thequarrian, and then Wrex shot him, right in front of them. All of them suppressed a cry, and Shepard and Garrus stepped up to give a lecture on war crimes and not shooting unarmed prisoners. Wrex simply stared at them, and said two sentences that indicated his stance and his unwillingness to hear more of the matter.

"No one betrays the Broker twice. And I gave my word I would kill him."

Frustrated, but unable to do anything and out of time, Shepard copied the hard drive on the laughably insecure computer, and their rag-tag squad raced of the club, through confused drunks and low-lives, headed towards a naïve quarian who thought she was going to meet the Shadow Broker himself. Or herself.

They arrive just as three sniper-dots paint the quarian's chest.

Time seemed to slow for Shepard in that alleyway, and he recalled with an odd quiet that Nihlus had trained him on just such a situation, protecting a vital witness or source from imminent attack. Shepard didn't thing, but _thrust_ himself forward, biotically, enveloping himself in a blue shield and bubble, arriving in front of purple-veiled quarian. He stopped, his hands out, and there came three quick shots, the first two shattered his instinctive barrier, the third hitting his shields and sending him back a step.

But as he took the bullets, the quarian was already moving, diving and throwing three tech mines at the hard-suited salarians and turians approaching with assault rifles. Overkill for a young quarian, Shepard thought. The mines sparked and shattered, taking down the shields and HUD of the assassins. Shepard moved, and felt the quarian barrel into him as the turian raised his rifle his way. They went down, and Shepard's team opened fire. The wetworks team on the ground went down in the withering hail of bullets. Shepard peeked upward, looking for the sniper, but his mutant nerves tingled, and he saw from the corner of his eye Wrex's blue-limned glow. There were three hard crunches, and the snipers were no more.

Shepard looked at the quarian lying on his chest.

" _Thanks_ " they both say simultaneously. Shepard laughs, then holds out his hand. Not a straightforward process when they were both laying down, but they made it work. The quarian took his hand, and shifted, helping him up.

"I'm Commander Shepard, Alliance Marines. I hear you have some data that might help us in our investigation?"

the quarian finishes the handshake, after prompting from what seemed to be a program in her suit. Her grip was surprisingly firm.

"Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." She gives him a tired look and sits on one of the half-rotted crates, ignoring the blue blood pooling around the dead turian 10 feet away. Now that he was closer, Shepard could see the spot on her shoulder that had been patched recently. A bullet hole.

Tali sighed. "If it would help repay you for saving my life, of course." She shook her head. "I can't share it with you here, though." She looked around, as if seeing the heavily armed multi-species firing team behind Shepard, and the bodies of the dead beside her. Shepard saw here eyes widen beneath the suit, and knew she had to be feeling the shock of her first kill.

"You should come with us. I know somewhere safe."

"I can handle myself." She said, but looked uncertain, and spoke through the hollow resonance of that post battle-fatigue.

"Hey, Tali, is it?" Ashley said, stepping forward, and pulling off her helmet.

Tali nodded.

"We're going to take you to the embassy, where you can share the data. If you want to part ways with us, or go to the Quarian Observer's office, you can." Ashley said gently.

Tali nodded again, took a deep, shuddering breath, and put her head in her hands. "Do you always get punished this much for trying to do the right thing?" She asked.

Shepard laughed, a bitter edge to it. "Just about. Come on, lets get out of this alleyway." He extended a hand, and helped Tali up from the crate.

As they were leaving the dank alleyway (Garrus assured them that C-Sec would be by to ID the bodies and then dispose of them) Shepard turned to Wrex.

"Thanks for helping us out. You didn't need to come with us after Chora's Den."

Shepard thought he saw a dim, peculiar flicker of emotion as Wrex looked briefly from him to Tali.

"Someone had to take care of the wetwork team while you were rolling about like hatchlings." He said dryly.

Shepard pasted a look of innocent surprise on his face.

"You mean they didn't all commit suicide from having to look at your face?"

There was a split second's tense silence, as Tali, Ashley, and Garrus looked between the human and the krogan, horrified. Then Wrex's craggy face split into a razor-toothed grin, and he laughed his long, low laugh.

"Heh heh heh. You got a quad, human."

* * *

Ambassador Udina wasn't thrilled at their return. The vein on his temple visibly throbbed, as he began a laundry list of how Shepard's actions disturbed peace and order, and left a diplomatic mess for him to clean up besides. Shepard snapped to attention, and waited the words out. He knew better than to reply, and he'd long ago, in part thanks to his asari upbringing, honed the subtle games of diplomacy and social back-and-forth. Asari teenagers could be particularly nasty, and he'd had to learn quickly. Shepard suppressed a shudder from the memory of those years.

When the ambassador had finished his lecture, Shepard presented Tali'Zorah, and she laid out their evidence. The quarian had managed to save an impressive amount of information from the geth whose memory core she had stolen. Shepard considered her. It had been brave to head straight to the rumors of geth when they would have been the boogeymen of their people for a generation. She was extremely resourceful, had managed to evade geth patrols, surveillance, and the hit squad of a well-connected and vengeful council SpecTRe, and now she calmly explained the information she'd captured to a hasty, irate, and powerful human. Shepard admitted he was impressed.

Two mysteries remained though – one was the powerful asari matriarch that also showed up in the databanks, and the second was the incessant mention of 'reapers', and the search for this 'conduit' The idea of a synthetic race having developed a religious worship of older and greater synthetics was curious, and Shepard believed was one that anthropologists and philosophers probably couldn't wait to get their hands on.

At the moment, the more pertinent question was one of whether or not this constituted evidence that could get the council to see that their top agent had turned rogue.

Which meant it was time for the lawyers to take over. Only Garrus and Shepard stayed to listen – they would be most concerned with the outcome. Wrex wandered off first, when it seemed there wasn't to be anymore firefights. Ashely, Kaidan, and Anderson went next, deciding to report to the Alliance all that had transpired. Tali left then, after she had nearly nodded off in the middle of all of the legal babble. Soon it was just Udina, the lawyers, and Shepard. By the end of the discussions, Udina had moved into a sort of respect for Shepard. Shepard guessed it had showed that he knew something beyond being a mere grunt, and could play in Udina's realm as well. He smiled slightly at the thought. Alliance Intelligence had more than prepared him for complicated diplomatic and legal cases. That such had comprised far less of his career than he'd expected was the surprise.

Their case wasn't airtight, but would be more than sufficient to start a council probe into the conduct of Saren. After they went over the details, Udina nodded to Garrus and Shepard, and told them to await a summons from the council to discuss the matter in some hours. Shepard nodded, thinking it would be good to get some R&R before being presented to the Council. Giving his testimony about the massacre on Eden Prime and accusing the most powerful SpecTRe in the galaxy in one go was something he needed to be sharp for.

* * *

Or at least, that was what Shepard thought he would be doing. Instead he had found himself drawn into all sorts of requests for help. Something about his alliance uniform made people think he was there to help. It was an assumption he had used to his benefit before, but after scanning keepers, helping a journalist break a story using Fist's files, diplomatically urging an exuberant hanar from preaching by the embassies, and destroyed an accidentally created AI. By the time he'd received the call, he had to rush to change into his dress blues – chipped and broken saber and all.

When he arrived (on time, which, in the military, was late) they were ushered into the huge council audience chamber. The three representatives of Galactic law stood on the high dais of the opulent and verdant chamber, while a large hologram of Saren was painted in uniform blue on a stand between the Council and the audience platform. Councilor Udina already stood atop the stand, with one of the lawyers. Captain Anderson, Chief Williams, and Lieutenant Alenko, represented the Alliance contingent, while Tali'Zorah stood by to give her evidence. Garrus Vakarian stood by to represent the official C-sec investigation.

Yet, despite the grandeur of the surroundings, the sheer power that was vested in the three beings on the highest dais, and the anxiety of the case the humans would need to lay out, Saren drew the eyes in the room. The large turian had an undeniable charisma, it was true, a certain purity of purpose and strength of resolve that was reflected in the way he stood. But he had wires running from his shoulder into a biomechanical arm, servomotors flexing and pushing as the SpecTRe fidgeted with the new appendage. His eyes, small and hard like all turian eyes, had hourglass pupils, and they seemed to be focusing through a fog.

"Saren. You look terrible." Sparatus said, surprised.

Saren grimaced. "I was forced to use some experimental technology rather sooner than I had hoped. I am fit to perform my duties to the galaxy, and the Council." The hologram turned to the dais.

"Now, is this the human who accuses me?"

Shepard stared up into the strange eyes of the Council SpecTRe. "The citizens of Eden Prime, torn apart by geth soldiers, accuse you. The council SpecTRe Nihlus Kryik's dead body accuses you. Since they cannot, yes, I accuse you." He stared defiantly at the figure of the turian SpecTRe, who did not react, but Shepard surmised that he did not expect such an impassioned defense.

"Nihlus was a friend, and I was in the Traverse tracking terminus slavers at the time of this invasion." Saren said coldly.

"We have read the reports, and the testimony of one traumatized dock-worker is hardly air-tight." The salarian councilor, Valern said.

"I object!" Udina said, his face flushing with anger again. "You should not pass judgement on until all evidence is heard!"

"You have more evidence to present than those found in the report?" Tevos said, offering a conciliatory arm, while simultaneously conveying her doubt at the trustworthiness of such evidence.

That was when the lawyers stepped in. At which point Saren made a disgusted sound, and protested his innocence once more before coldly closing off the broadcast. Apparently he didn't share Nihlus' insistence that those with permission to act above the law had the imperative to know it well.

The entirety of the case took the better part of an hour to present, the Alliance lawyers periodically calling up their witnesses to present their findings, explaining the important elements of the invasion of Eden Prime with graphs, charts, and access to alliance-classified material. The data on Nihlus' hardsuit was presented, including the audio of that haunting poem about specters.

The counselors all seemed skeptical of the entire thing. They had a difficult enough time believing that the geth incursion was a dangerous enough threat to send citadel fleets to protect the Traverse. Their questions clearly showed their skepticism. Shepard felt the frustration of the humans beginning to build as the Council refused to see.

But there came a curious tension in the room as Tali was called to the stand. As she sent the councilors all the data, and went through the important bits – the focus on the Reapers, the calling of Saren a prophet, the conversation with Benezia, and the hunt for this 'conduit'.

There was a long silence after their lawyers added what was left of their case. Then Sparatus pushed a button, and barrier raised up in front of the councilors while they debated among themselves. Things got heated, as Sparatus shook his head and motioned aggressively at Tevos and Valern. Valern crossed his arms, and shook his head. Tevos said something, and the tension seemed to drop. There was a couple minutes more of quiet discussion, and then the barrier dropped, and the Councilors returned to their podiums. They entered something into the consoles stationed there, and Tevos said, with an edge of sadness,

"In light of the evidence and reasonable doubts presented to the council, we hereby strip Saren Arterius of his rank as Chief SpecTRe and declare him a wanted man in all Council systems. A bounty will be placed upon his head, and an investigation will be launched by a Special Prosecutor to determine to what extent Saren's actions have destabilized Council space, and to find and eliminate all of his allies within the Galactic government.

"That's not good enough!" Udina nearly shouted. "What of our colonies? Send out your fleets!"

"We cannot risk war with the terminus systems, Ambassador." Valern said coldly to the irate human. "Nor is a fleet any more effective at flushing out one man."

Shepard flinched, as he felt a surging flash of pain in his head. Images of the slaughter – both from his own memories and the incredible devastation of the beacon-dreams – flashed behind his eyes, ending with Saren's hourglass eyes glaring at him mercilessly. This was important.

He stepped forward, lowering his hand, clutched instinctively at his face. "Councilors. We have yet to discuss the matter of my SpecTRe candidacy."

"Yes." Sparatus said bluntly.

"Nihlus seemed impressed with your progress and dedication to the task." Valern added.

"But we need to know we can trust you with the powers that the office brings." Tevos said kindly.

"And removing your boss as your first act does not inspire confidence in your loyalty to the institution." Sparatus said bitterly. Saren's treachery had hit him hardest, it seemed.

"Send me after him." Shepard said simply.

Shepard watched as the Councilor's considered this. His chase would remove Shepard from the public eye, taking him to far-flung planets. The need to chase down a turian with half a century of combat and espionage experience meant it would remove him from the public eye, where he was popular – both from his defense of Elysium, and from his role in this newest catastrophe. And after the 'trial period', they could install him to more publicly perform his role. He saw Tevos give the subtlest of indications that she liked the idea, then saw her look to Sparatus and Valern, who nodded in turn.

"That would allow some closure on this case while giving time to sort out the geth incursions. Very well. If we are all decided?" She said, looking again to her fellow councilors. They nodded in return, then entered something onto their consoles. When they were done, Shepard felt a vibration as his omni-tool received something, and then the Councilors began the SpecTRe ceremony. 

"This is a great honor, you are the first of your kind to be granted the rights and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance group…"

It was several days later, while the Alliance was still punting about the question of how to equip their new human SpecTRe, what role he would play with the Alliance, and what role with the Council, where he would get a ship, etc etc, that Shepard received a summons to an office on Kithoi Ward. A mentor, it had said. His training, it seemed, would continue. The Council assigned him to a SpecTRe who had just returned to the citadel, one, Jondam Bau. 

Presenting himself at the nondescript office, he found the door open, and a salarian in yellow and black armor there waiting behind a desk. The chair had been pushed to one side, while the salarian made his motions with the interface. 

Shepard saluted and introduced himself. The salarian just stared at him, his big black eyes giving away nothing. His yellow and black armor gleamed in the artificial lighting.

"Commander Shepard. You made N7 designation, successfully completed numerous Alliance special operation missions. But before that you were Alliance Intelligence?"  
Shepard stood silent for a second, deciding whether he had an obligation to deny it.

"No need to deny it, Commander. I never spent any time in the Special Tasks Group, either." Bau tilted his head upward, a salarian sign of respect, and a wry look in his eyes. Shepard mirrored the motion, relieved. Bau motioned to Shepard, and started off down the hallway.

"You'll be receiving truncated training. The Council will rely on your former intelligence training to ah, fill in the gaps." the human idiom only slowed the salarian down a fraction. Shepard abruptly realized the salarian wasn't using a translator, but speaking entirely in English.

"What will we be covering?" he asked.

"Forensics, basics of most sciences and engineering, weapons manufacture. et cetera." Bau paused. "The majority will be done in reading, while hunting for Saren." Bau nodded and began his swift march again. "I will teach you the practical aspects here." Shepard swore he saw the ghost of a smile on the salarian's face. "Keep up."

Jondam Bau was true to his word, the curriculum was both exhaustive and exhausting. On top of the replays of his life playing as he slept, there was a truly tremendous amount of reading to keep up with. Due to both his biotic metabolism and the beacon's disruptive effect, Chakwas was practically shoving food into his mouth during his nights on the Normandy. The rest of the crew took the time as an unexpected shore leave, while their captain was in talks with Udina and their XO was off studying to become a council Spectre.

Surprisingly, Garrus, Tali and Wrex all kept up with Shepard. Garrus via passing information that his own investigation had uncovered on Saren, Wrex by dropping by Udina's office and looking menacing, then leaving. Truthfully, he kept this up even after he learned better ways to contact Shepard. The councilor was just too easy to bait. Tali was working with the Council team on unlocking the key to the geth data encryption protocols, drawn from her experience with the data core she had captured. Shepard made time for each of them, keeping with his training - they might be useful contacts later on. He didn't know where he would end up, nor how much time he would have to maintain these relationships in the coming days, but they had all helped him in their own ways, so he would make sure he could be in a position to do the same.

Lieutenant Alenko and Chief Williams kept up with him as well. They kept inviting him out drinking with the crew, or would stop by while he was studying to say hi. Shepard was touched by the actions. He had had few enough friends growing up. The bond between them had started military, but had grown to an easy comradeship that stabilized Shepard amidst all the upheaval. He resolved to put in a transfer request for the both of them on whatever ship that the Alliance saw fit to put him on, once they sorted out how they were planning to equip him.

A week sped by, and one evening, Shepard received orders from Ambassador Udina to meet him at the berth where the _Normandy_ was docked the next morning.

Anticipation gripped Shepard's insides. At last, it was beginning.


	4. Chapter 4

V) **All Aboard**

(1) Only a week later, and Udina has Shepard meet him and Anderson beside the Normandy.  
"Captain Anderson will be stepping down as the Captain of the Normandy."  
"She's all yours, Shepard." Anderson with an edge of pain in his voice.  
"Captain, this is unexpected. Was it by choice, or were you encouraged into it?" Shepard stood at parade rest, his shoulders slack. Udina still took a reactive step backwards.  
"No, Udina is right. It's time for me to step down. I got too close and too heated on account of Saren."  
"Then with your blessing, Captain?" Shepard inclined his head at Anderson. The Captain smiled slightly.  
"It's yours, Commander. Treat her well, she's a hell of a ship." taking his hands from behind his back, Anderson grabbed Shepard's shoulder. His voice was even, equally command and fatherly. "You'll do me proud, Shepard."  
"Aye aye, Sir." Shepard saluted. Udina rolled his eyes, but maintained his distance.  
"If you two are done, the council passed on several leads..."  
Shepard nodded. "Agent Bau passed those on to me. Thank you ambassador." Udina looked disgruntled, but nodded and huffed to himself as he turned to head back to the embassies. Watching him go, Anderson said,  
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy that."  
Shepard grinned. "My pleasure sir." A measure of companionable silence passed between them. The nearness of the vacuum meant that while there was plenty of activity in the coming and going of ships, there was little noise.  
"Sir, what about the crew?" Shepard said eventually.  
"I already addressed them while you were training. I've recalled them all back from shore leave. They should all report by..." Anderson called up his omni-tool and checked the time. "20:00 GST. I've also sent the all a message about my stepping down. Any who wanted to be reassigned to an Alliance vessel will be staying here. Only Walsh and Fredrickson asked to be reassigned."  
"Thank you sir."

(2) Ashley and Kaidan came by first, looking pleased with themselves.  
"C-Sec finally got finished processing what you managed to get Fist's man to confess in your conversation. They also seized the man's omni-tool. You might have brought down a big chunk of organized crime on the citadel Commander." Kaidan said.  
"The look on the man's face when we brought him to C-Sec was priceless." Ashley said, reliving the moment with a pleased expression on her face.  
"Half, actually." Garrus arrived behind the duo at the Normandy's airlock. The humans looked puzzled. "Half of organized crime. On the Citadel." He looked smug. "I got the other one. He got sloppy - led me right to his boss. Ordered a raid on the location and..." Garrus sighed happily. "Caught the bastards. 12 tons of Red Sand, 150 captured slaves, and Kvak Shaln himself." Garrus looked seriously at the Commander. "I'd like permission to join your crew."  
"Don't you have a place at C-Sec? Duties?" Shepard asked. The turian was certainly cool in a firefight. A good shot, too.  
"You accomplished in half a day what would have taken C-Sec years and a mountain of paperwork to do. I want to be able to make that kind of difference. I want to be able to bring Saren to justice, not sit here tripping over bureaucrats while trying to gather information I don't have clearance for." Garrus looked down slightly, then straightened, puffing out his chest a bit. "So, If you'll have me?"  
"It'll be good to have you on the team, Garrus."

(3) Tali came by after, wringing her hands and glancing around nervously. "Commander, I'd like to join your team. See this through." She managed to get out. Shepard nodded.  
"What do you have to the offer to the team?"  
"I can pull my own weight. I can fix just about any drive core, I've got extensive engineering experience, and I was in the top 1% of my combat class." Tali crossed her arms for dramatic effect. "close quarters and ranged." Tali looked down. "I've also got more experience than just about anyone on the Geth. You might need me to find more data-cores." Shepard looked at her for a moment. He had been about to reject her application - he didn't need another fighter, and one dextro was going to be hard enough to deal with in rations. But the intricate plans on the Geth data core flashed through his memory, and he held out his hand. Tali took it without hesitating this time.  
"Welcome aboard, Tali'Zorah."  
"Oh! you can just call me Tali." Shepard smiled.  
"Welcome aboard Tali."

(a) Later, in Engineering.  
"Tali, I'm happy to have your expertise and experience with the Geth on the team, but I have to ask. Why us? You've got a duty to the Migrant fleet – to bring back something valuable. Why go gallivanting off after a rogue Spectre who's got an army of Geth?" "The Geth are our creations Shepard. Any information I can offer them as to why they've suddenly decided to follow an organic would be invaluable to the fleet." She puts her hands together in front of her and starts wringing them, while at the same time tilting her shoulder toward Shepard. "Besides, maybe I want a chance to do some gallivanting before I get stuck repairing the drive cores on live-ships." Shepard smiles broadly. "It's good to have you on the team, Tali."

(4) Shepard gets message about Krogan at the airlock. Wrex presents himself, and stares at the first human Spectre. He snorts.  
"You humans are still soft. But you know how to pick the good fights."  
"Is that a question?" Shepard asks. Wrex stares him down, his red eyes calculating. Shepard gives a half-smile, "You're welcome to join us in our hunt." There are a couple more seconds of silence. "It will be a worthy fight." Shepard says quietly. Wrex snorts again, then picks up the bag he'd set down behind him and follows Shepard aboard the Normandy.

(5) Pressly second guesses Shepard about the alien members now aboard. Reprimanded gently. Leaves fuming.

(6) Shepard reports to Jondam Bau one more time. Bau quizzes him relentlessly for an hour. After he finishes, Shepard swears there's something of a triumphant gleam in his eye as he says,  
"Satisfactory. Here" He pulls out a small case. Inside is one of the experimental pistols designed specifically for the Spectres.  
"You will have to earn the others." he motions to the sniper rifle and assault rifle strapped to his back. "But this will do for now. Remember, your reputation is one of your most useful tools - Elysium, Eden Prime," Bau's eyes became searching. "Mindoir. You already have a significant advantage. Use it."  
Shepard nodded. "Thank you sir. I wish I could spend more time training properly."  
Bau shook his head. "No. Mission always comes first. That is the purpose of the Spectres. Remember that, too." Bau offered his hand. Shepard, slightly surprised at the human gesture, took it gladly.  
"Good hunting Shepard." Bau said, then turned and marched deeper into HQ without looking back.

(7) As Shepard slept that night, the memories kept their excruciating march, dancing between the flickers of the corrupted and nonsensical prothean message.

(a) Alexander had initially been resistant to the idea of being adopted. He'd found a semblance of stability in the 5 months he'd been in the orphanage - screaming kids and all. Lyvanis and Nala were persistent though.  
"Alexander." The older asari's voice was soft and lilting, with a slight musical tone to it. Alexander looked up from his favorite corner. "It's good to see you well. Things will be ready in two weeks time." Lyvanis kneeled down next to him. "Would you like that?" Alexander hesitated, but nodded. Lyvanis relaxed, allowing herself to sit more casually beside him. Nala stood hesitantly by the corner.  
"Do you trust me, Alexander?" Lyvanis' face was soft, comforting. Alexander looked from her to Nala, who was still looking unsure of herself. He was about to nod, when the caretaker's walked around the corner. She smiled at the gathering.  
"Oh there you are!" She looked around, futilely pulling a few hairs back into what had once been a bun. "You certainly like this corner." She smiled indulgently. "I'll leave you to it." Lyvanis smiled and nodded, and the caretaker left. She looked expectantly at Alexander. He looked down, but nodded. She reached out one hand and cupped his cheek.  
"Relax, Alexander. I just want to understand." Lyvanis leaned her head in, saying softly, "You trust me, right?" he nodded. "Then relax." Her eyes suffused with a rush of blood, making them go dark. Alexander initially recoiled to the feeling of someone touching his mind. But he heard music - gentle rolling strains that emanated from the core of Lyvanis' being. Soft strains promising comfort and sympathy, and he relaxed. Their minds touched - Lyvanis seeking understanding, Alexander, escape. Dimly, Alexander heard the asari gasp as she saw the memories that plagued him unfolding before her - no, to her. They separated, Lyvanis' eyes returning no their normal shade. She was shaking. Fear and horror and pity coursed through her, but she reached out her arms and hugged Alexander. And for the first time, he hugged someone back.

The caretaker came back around and stopped, smiling broadly at the scene. Lyvanis and Alexander separated, and Lyvanis motioned to the caretaker.  
"Could you talk to Alexander while I discuss something with Ms. Richards?" She asked her daughter, who frowned slightly.  
"But he won't talk back."  
"Think of it as a challenge then." Lyvanis smiled encouragingly, and Nalanissa nodded, determination in her eyes. The two older women walked around down the hallway, but Alexander could still hear their conversation.  
"How much of his file did you read?"  
"Only the basics, I try to let my kids shape my view of them." Ms. Richards said.  
"Do you recall what Alexander's file said?"  
"Batarian slavers, poor kid. Rescued in the nick of time?" There was a brief silence, which Alexander took to be Lyvanis shaking her head.  
"No. He killed them."  
A muffled sound escaped Ms. Richards, as she put her hands over her mouth. Lyvanis sounded wretched as she related the rest of the tale.  
"His mother told him to. His father was already dead, and she was on the way out, likely from loss of blood. She told him to save the others, and kill those responsible. And he did." There was a ghastly silence.  
"Do you... do you still want to adopt?"  
"He needs me." Came the simple reply. There was a pause, then she added. "He likes that corner because it has a view of all the exits."  
"Hey." Nala touched his shoulder, drawing him back into the present. "Did you ever... Did you ever master that trick I showed you?" There was a long pause as Alexander considered the last time he made the singularity, and the bullet riddled batarian corpses floating aimlessly on the bridge of that horrific ship.  
He nodded slowly.


	5. Chapter 5 (Feros)

1) Upon landing, their host gets gunned down. Shepard and his squad respond efficiently and brutally, despite their patchwork of military backgrounds. Shepard grinned to himself, anticipating the giant "I told you so" he'd get to use after the mission. He'd drilled his team constantly since they departed the Citadel. Their complaints were mostly good-natured, but a few of the -  
"(a)There was a blast, and Shepard returned to the present. Ashley had blasted the last Geth Destroyer in the head. still dripping white fluid, and it fell to its knees, then keeled over. Tali stood over the shattered remains of another of the platforms, rocking backward and forward on her toes. An expression of Quarian thoughtfulness, according to Eraj Enola, a salarian xeno-behaviorist and one of Bau's assigned  
"These Geth attacked the colony without much tactical thought." Tali noted. She looked down at the platform in front of her, then back up to the squad. "Part of what makes them deadly is their utter relentlessness combined with instantaneous communication between members of ground squads. It's... unlike them to throw platforms away like this."  
"I wonder if that comm station Fai Dan mentioned has some clues?" Shepard mentions. Tali looks doubtful, but doesn't question her  
"Sewers on a Prothean colony. Bad old smells and bad new smells." Ashley shook her head. "You certainly take us to exotic places commander."  
"Miss your comfy colony posting?" Shepard asks, wincing internally. Ashley looks distant and doesn't respond.

2) Shepard talks to Fai Dan, after asking everyone what they needed to help be self-sufficient again. Everyone insists Fai Dan knows the history of the colony better than them. Ashley gives a sidelong look to the Commander, who makes no direct note of it to the colonists.

3) The team plunges into the sewer. With a little reluctance. They restore power, water, and food supply. Wrex is disgruntled. "How will they learn to survive if they need you for such tasks?" Shepard looks at the krogan. "Survival does not tell who is worthy, only who is left. These colonists chose to fight out a living on the barren ruins of a lost civilization. It was only thanks to Saren that they encountered a challenge they had no right to expect. We're evening the odds. " Wrex tightens his grip on his shotgun, but says nothing more.

4) They fight their way to the geth transmitter, which is guarded by krogan. The transmitter also seems to have been put together by the krogan there, which would account for the lack of geth-like tactics  
"Fascinating. The geth are taking orders, willfully subservient to organics. Shepard, look. There's even a spot here for data entry into the consensus - the krogan could actually interface with the geth and send them orders."  
"What makes this different from battle mechs?" Shepard asked, assigning Wrex and Ashley to watch their backs. Both looked thoroughly bored with the tech talk.  
"Shepard, the geth are a software consensus of individual programs. They're a true AI. They made the choice to do this. Here, this input panel?" Tali waved vaguely at the console. "It doesn't connect to geth server, where all their programs are backed up. This comm tower just sends simple signals - data that could be ignored by the consensus. But it isn't being ignored." Tali bounced forward on her toes, thoughtful and  
"Then why krogan?" Kaidan asked, waving his omni-tool over the odd-looking device  
"Or why Saren, for that matter?" Garrus asked, giving the scene a sweeping look, as if searching for clues.  
"Contact!" Ashley yelled, and the team dived for cover. Two more geth, looking to repair the tower tried to make their way in. They were quickly cut down by Ashley and Wrex's expert  
"Can you use it Tali?" Shepard asked, motioning to the tower. The quarian shook her head.  
"It's interesting, but not noteworthy enough to be worth saving." Shepard nodded, attached a grenade to the machine, and they exit the room, and run smack into Ian Newstead, who jabbers about 'invoking the master's whip!'.

5) Shepard finds remaining ExoGeni higher-ups. Agrees to look for Lizbeth.

6) The squad finds Lizbeth. Then they introduces a dropship to gravity with a suspiciously convenient and possibly homicidal shuttle-bay door. After the resounding crash, Shepard looked at Ashley and said with half a smile,  
"And it's only now that I question Exo-Geni's safety protocols" She and Kaidan laugh. Ashley motions at the  
"With all due respect sir, they're colonists. They probably would have ignored them anyway. Takes a special kind of stubborn to settle the deep regions of space." Shepard notices Tali moving, leaning slightly forward with her shoulders, but back on her legs. He racked his brain for the appropriate interpretation. Discomfort? Uncertainty? Before he could recall what Bau's book interpreted the motion to be, Joker interrupted with a call from the  
"Uh, Commander, whatever you did set the Colonists off. They're banging on the Normandy's doors and moaning like zombies." The squad looks at each  
"The Thorian."

7) Shepard drops off Lizbeth and has to talk down Ethan Jeong. Announces his discovery of the Thorian, and the enslaved colonists at Zhu's hope. He manages to convince Jeong to up support for the colony as a PR move. As they're about to leave, he asks, "By the way, who was Zhu?"  
"Well, well, I don't know. Fai Dan is regional manager of that outpost. Ask him." Jeong said, wringing his hands in anticipation, his mind distracted by the visions of promotions Shepard had given him.  
"Not you too..." Ashley said,  
"What? He named the place."

8) They head back, encountering the Creepers.  
"Those weren't human." Ashley said.  
"They weren't living. Not really. Animated by the Thorian, likely." Shepard guessed. Tali takes a reading on her omni tool of one who had yet to exit the hibernation-like position.  
"There's a heartbeat, but no neural activity. No thought – nothing from the being itself. It seems… directed."  
Wrex poked one of the dead being's flesh. "Feels like a plant. Not as squishy as a human." Ashley looks askance. Shepard continued the line of thought.  
"Plant based simulacra. I wonder if that's a way of hunting or gathering more victims."  
"I'm an engineer, not a biologist." Tali said dryly as the squad looks to her, her face plate still reflecting the glow of her omni-tool. They open the doors and hear the screams of the colonists as they turn their head away and fire at the group. Shepard uses a biotic field and slams their heads against the barricade, knocking them out. Ashley looks warily at him.  
"Better a concussion than friendly fire." Shepard said  
"Real comforting, commander."

9) Through exquisite care and precisely timed assaults, they manage to make it to the freighter without killing a single colonist. They make it to the chamber of the Thorian.

10) "We're gonna need a bigger gun."

11) "[…]Then the cold ones come and attempt to destroy me. I am done bargaining with my prey." The green asari lunges forward, a biotic field forming in her hands. Wrex and Shepard hit her at the same time with a push. The clone flies backwards, impaling itself on one of the Thorian's many spines. They hear a creak as the Thorian creepers lift their emaciated bodies. They turn and unload onto the approaching wave. Shepard sees the creature groaning, and runs upward. "Attack the nodes! They're emitting the-" Shepard coughs. "The spores!"

12) They fight their way upward, through hordes of creepers, They take turns, waiting for their weapons to cool down, then switching out. By the time they reach the top and the last node, all are scratched, bleeding and burned (from changing out near-ignited heat-sinks). Tali tiredly pants,  
"I never thought I would hate a plant this much." Garrus laughs. Wrex fires off a blast from his shotgun, downing a creeper that had snuck up behind the panting group. He laughs, a note of exhilaration in the sound.  
"Reminds me of Tuchanka!"  
"Tuchankan plants fight back?" Garrus asked, incredulous. He set a mine, blowing a hole in the approaching thorian group as the team retreats up the stairway.  
"Just the good ones!" Wrex roars and makes a calculated charge into the advancing crowd, pushing 5 creepers into the massive thorian.  
"Guns are getting a little hot, Commander." Kaidan said over the gunfire and intermittent explosions.  
"Can we just kill this thing and be done with it?!" Ashley growled irritably and threw her last grenade into the ever-advancing horde. Shepard looks over his shoulder, and notes the last neural node attached to the wall ahead of them. He starts laughing,  
"Me? I'm just irritated-" He formed a biotic field in his hands "-that of all the places to grow, it spread out up-" He panted, the blue corona around his hands growing more intense. "-all these stairs. I mean-" He threw the field around the node. There was a deafening sound, like the creak of a thousand trees straining against a cyclonic wind. "How-" Shepard leaned into the air, pulling on his biotic field with all he was worth. "- _Inconsiderate_!" There was a tremendous crack, and the Thorian swayed, suspended by smaller appendages for one small instant, then smaller cracks echoed up the cylindrical space, and the Thorian began its long fall. The team watched in tired silence as the ancient plant descended. There was an ignominious splat as it landed, and its own weight caused it to implode, spraying green matter everywhere. There was an echoing scream that seemed to bypass auditory senses, then silence. "Well." Shepard swayed. "That's done." He laughed, the high edge of hysteria coloring it. Garrus kicked one of the creepers that had fallen near him. There was a slight squishing noise, but no response. A creaking came from behind them, and a wet splat as one of the pods attached to the wall burst.

13) Wrex moves up, pointing his gun at the pus-drenched asari that had just fallen out of a pod near them.  
"I-" the asari coughs. "I surrender." She leaned against the wall wearily.

14) Shiala tells them about indoctrination, how Matriarch Benezia had good intentions originally, but soon fell under the sway of Sovereign. They ask how that's possible, and Shiala asks them to relate their experiences fighting amidst the swarms of creepers, the spores thick in the air. Ashley looks horrified.  
"You mean that wasn't you guys whispering?"  
"Krogan aren't good at whispering princess." Wrex said, eyeing Shiala  
"But what about the Cipher – the Thorian said something about a trade?" Shepard asked. Shiala paused, before explaining.  
"The Thorian absorbs the essence of everyone on which it feeds. Their memories, their identity, their thinking. That is the Cipher, the hundreds of thousands of Protheans it absorbed over the centuries, before it fell dormant. It stored the info, it ends up using only about .05% of all it collected - for better hunting, for making the simulacra you fought. 50000+ years ago, they would have looked like Protheans." She said grimly. She tilted her head slightly, thoughtful. "It is a giant carnivorous computer, often asleep, and using only one process despite all the data stored within it. The Cipher is the collected memories of the Protheans, from 1st person. It is what it is to be a prothean, their values, dissonances, thoughts. It is... formidable to experience - so vast that it becomes a part of you in the processing of it." She bowed her head, whether from shame or exhaustion was not clear. "Saren needed it to translate the vision from the beacons. He did not wish for his hunters," Shiala nodded at the squad assembled in front of her sitting form, "To have the same key. So he sent the Geth to destroy an ancient being." She leaned her head against the lichen and thorian-covered wall, carefully resting her scalp-crests against the surface. "I will give it to you, Shepard, to aid in your pursuit." She closed her eyes. "And as the first step in atoning for my actions." Shepard nodded.  
"What?! Commander, you're going to join yourself to her? She was with Saren! Left here, maybe for us to find!" Ashley said, fatigue making her temper shorter than usual.  
"She was indoctrinated." Kaidan said doubtfully. "Will this pass it on to you?"  
"Relax, Ash. It is not as complete as a, ah, full melding. It will pass the information, memories. Only a bit of the self."  
"You are unusually informed about the asari, Shepard." Shiala said.  
"My mother was asari." He said. Everyone stared at him. Even Wrex turned from guarding their backs to look at him. Shepard coughed. "Adoptive mother." There was a beat of silence, then Shiala defended herself.  
"I was indoctrinated. I heard the whispers, the force of will pushing me to obey. When I was given to the Thorian, that will was... replaced. The Thorian absorbed me, and made my will its own. Now that it is dead, I am free." She wiped her eyes. "Burdened with the guilt of my actions, but free." Shepard offered his hand, and Shiala looked up, surprised. Hesitantly, she took it, and he pulled her to her feet.  
"Thank you Shiala. We may not be able to undo what was done, but we will stop Saren from perpetuating it.  
"Relax, Shepard, Open your mind." She said, leaning her head close to his.

15) The squad watches in apprehension as Shiala and Shepard appear linked by an invisible force. Both open their eyes at the same moment, and fall backwards, away from each other. There are two dull thuds as the asari and the Commander hit the ground. Neither move. Kaidan rushes to his CO, checking the hardsuit computer for warning messages. Well, different warning messages.  
"He's just passed out from whatever Shiala gave him. Should be up and about soon enough." He moves over to the asari, opening his omni-tool and doing the check manually. "Same with Shiala." The squad looks around as Kaidan administers what first aid he can. Fatigue had made the chain of command somewhat murky. Garrus steps up.  
"Wrex, grab Shepard. Kaidan, take Shiala. We'll bring them to Zhu's Hope's medical station - it's closest. Ashley, and I will take rear-guard. Tali, send a message back to the Normandy. Let them know what happened." Garrus said. "Well, the abridged version." He amended. Wrex gave him a baleful eye, then snorted when Garrus returned the stare. Whether it was in approval or irritation Garrus couldn't tell. The krogan picked up Shepard's limp form anyhow, and said nothing. The group made their awkward way out of the damp, musty chamber. There was nearly a collective sight as they emerged out into Feros' harsh sunlight.

Shepard awoke lightly bouncing. He was balanced over Wrex's shoulder. The contact sent a rush of confusing information at him. He felt shame, impotent rage, and a quiet despair, all tempered by a ruthless pragmatism. He felt deep thoughts, churning beneath a brutish and short-sighted surface, a mask that was beginning to shape the face beneath.  
The sudden input made his head spin, and the edges of his vision start to go black. Focusing, he takes several deep breaths, centering himself. Wrex lays him, not ungently, onto a medical cot. He sees Shiala laid in a bed next to him, still unconscious. Kaidan checks his pulse. The contact brings another jolt, another influx of information. Shepard feels a deep regret. Something that led to a very low self-worth, something that drove an all-encompassing drive to protect and defend. He feels the thin layer placed atop of this, a calm surface to swiftly moving currents /"Commander." Kaidan said, shining a light from his omni-tool into his eyes.  
"Wasn't your fault." Shepard hoarsely said, grabbing Kaidan's shoulder.  
"Commander?" Kaidan asked, raising an eyebrow. Shepard let his hand fall, and moved it to his head, trying to clear his mind.  
"How long?"  
"No more than 10 minutes sir."  
"Did it help your visions?" Ashley asked from across the room. Shepard called forth the blistering stream of imagery, and somehow divined meaning. Sort of. He grimaced.  
"It's still... scrambled." He searched for an analogy. "It's like it was encrypted before - vital information mixed up and misplaced. Now I understand it, but there are pieces missing. Like reading a censored report. You get basics, but everything important is missing." Ashley frowns at the news, but said nothing. She leaned back, her assault rifle propped against the wall next to her. Shepard levered himself up. He held a hand to his head as a sharp ache stabbed through it at the motion. Steadying himself, he looked toward his lieutenant.  
"Alenko, gather everyone up, have them report to Chakwas and get cleared before beginning preparations to depart." Shepard looked about, and spotted the large shadow outside the small room's door. He raised his voice slightly. "That means you too Wrex. The galaxy definitely couldn't handle a Thorian krogan." There was a low rumbling laugh that echoed in the cramped hallway of the shelter. Shiala chose that moment to sit bolt upright, breathing heavily. She looked at Shepard, her eyes still darker than normal, the blood that rushed there during a melding have not completely drained.  
"You..." she said, then put a hand on her chest and took several deep breaths. Kaidan rushed over to check on her, but she held out an arm  
"Thank you Lieutenant. But I am alright." Ashley snickered, and Kaidan shot her an exasperated look. Shiala stood slowly, and started to walk over to where Shepard was standing. At that moment Tali came through the door, bearing a glass of water  
"Commander! You're awake!" Shepard smiled, but she continued, "I thought it would be a while longer. I read the reports on Eden Prime and Doctor Chakwas mentioned that you were out for several days and were dehydrated when you awoke so I thought you might like some water and -"  
"You don't know how right you are. Thank you Tali." Shepard gratefully accepted the glass of water and drained half of it in one gulp. He looked sideways, and offered the rest to Shiala, who imitated the Commander in finishing the rest of it. She set the empty glass down on the bedside table. Shepard looked expectantly at Kaidan, who started a bit, then began giving orders for the squad to pack up and make it back to the ship. Tali gave him and Shiala a look that Shepard couldn't identify, then followed the rest of the squad out.

After they left, Shepard turned to Shiala. She looked down, and then back up to him.  
"The thorian, before it died. It wasn't just screaming in rage. It was a call for help, on a frequency unknown to us." Shepard leaned forward, his brow creased in concern.  
"There are more?" he asked. She nodded.  
"In the far reaches of the galaxy, who knows what yet lies undiscovered?" Shepard swore quietly, but nodded, making a note of it on his omni-tool. There were several moments of silence as he worked, the quiet glow of the omni-tool seeming to share a warmth the med-bay lacked. When Shepard finished, he gave a long sigh, rubbed his eyes, and then fixed his piercing gaze on Shiala.  
"What will you do now?" He asked quietly. She looked down, weariness etching itself on the usually smooth face of the asari. Sorrow and frustration colored her voice.  
"I will stay here and help the colonists rebuild. I owe them more, but this is what I can give." Shepard nodded.  
"I will ask Exo-Geni to keep me updated on the state of the colonly." Shiala nodded slowly, the implication not lost on her. _Leave and I will know._  
"Thank you commander. I have no right to expect such mercy."

Shepard nodded again, and turned to go. Shiala grabbed his arm.  
"In transfers such as ours, there is always an exchange. I saw…" She turned her head to the side, embarrassed. "You have suffered much, but you shine brighter than any I have ever encountered." Shiala bowed her head, maintaing the touch on his arm. "I will be here should you need me, Shepard." Shepard examined her, somehow knowing intuitively her sincerity and admiration, colored with a pain in her past that drove her down the dark road to the Thorian. He nodded at her.  
"Thank you Shiala. May you find peace in your labors here."

16) "Of course Shepard would do anything to help a _human_ colony." Sparatus said disparagingly. Tevos was a bit startled as Shepard's face relaxed from polite frustration to something that seemed completely devoid of emotion. While Shepard continued to answer their queries evenly, his face remained in that blank mask. His answers, while unfailingly polite, also became amazingly obtuse. By the end of the interview Sparatus was shaking in impotent rage.  
"You should not provoke him, Sparatus. We may need him." Tevos said  
"Provoke him? The man shows a dangerous lack of perspective on galactic issues!"  
"Agent Shepard was not passive-aggressive until you accused him of speciesism." Valern said flatly. Sparatus swore and stormed out of the room. There came a sound of fists hitting a leather punching bag the councilor had had installed in his office. Valern looked at Tevos and bowed  
"I will inform the Dalatrasses of Saren's alarming control over the Geth, and update them on the Thorian. Good day." Tevos nodded and sighed, looking over the mix of dark marble and greenery that decorated the council tower. There were few that could truly irritate her, but Lyvanis had always been successful on that front. Tevos smiled in dark amusement. Lyvanis had taught her adopted son well.

17) Needing someone to cheer him up after talking to the Council, Shepard wanders down to talk with Tali, who was nearly asleep at her console. The full content of the Cipher still buzzing in his head, he asks how she keeps all the information necessary for being an engineer straight. She laughed and said her social life suffers for it. Quarians are notorious about gossip, as they have to be a very social species. As a result of her study and dedication to the fleet, she was often lost during the mealtime conversations with her peers. They commiserate, both having too many people and too much information to worry about all at once. Adams finds them sometime later, leaned up against the wall of Engineering, sleeping deeply. Tali's head had drooped over onto Shepard's shoulder. Adams smiled and let them be.

(a) Sometime later, Shepard awoke. He gave a quizzical glance at Adams, looking from him to the peacefully sleeping Quarian on his shoulder. Adams shrugged, and held out his hands, hiding a smile. Shepard shook his head, and gathered Tali in his arms. He headed up the stairs. Passing through the garage, he noted that everyone except for Ashley was gone. Ashley looked dead on her feet, but was resolutely cleaning the guns set before her. She opened her mouth when she saw Shepard emerge from engineering. Shepard shushed her with a few frantic motions, indicating the sleeping quarian. Ashley nodded in understanding, smiling at the scene. The smile turned wicked when Tali chose that moment to mutter sleepily and hang her arms around Shepard's neck, nuzzling her head into his shoulder. There was a small snap as Ashley took a picture with her omni-tool. Shepard narrowed his eyes in mock-anger and Ashley mouthed _"Blackmail"_ with that mischevious smile pasted on her face. Shepard shook his head and rolled his eyes.

(b) After depositing Tali in her bunk a level up, Shepard backtracked down to the garage, where Ashley was packing up the last of the guns.  
"You had a question Chief?"  
"Personal question sir. I've told you all about the Williams'. Thought I might ask a bit about you. Sorry if it's a breach in protocol. I'm not particularly good at it, and I'm exhausted." Shepard smiled and leaned against the weapons lockers.  
"Shoot, Ash."  
"I've already put the guns away sir." she said straight-faced. Shepard raised an eyebrow and gave her a sardonic grin.  
"You can do better than that Chief. I'll let it slide because we're all tired, but next time I might have to put you on detail with Joker."  
"Point taken skipper." She slapped a lazy salute, grinning. "anyway, You said you were raised by aliens?" Shepard nodded.  
"Livy -" he stopped and shook his head, "Lyvanis Eloria and her daughter Nalanissa adopted me."  
"Why?" Shepard sighed and looked up, the memories bright and clear from his nightly reruns.  
"Lyvanis felt she owed my father. And after Mindoir..." Shepard shrugged. "Well, I needed it. Needed a family."  
"I've heard a lot of rumors about you and Mindoir." Ashley said neutrally,  
"I imagine." was all Shepard said in reply. There was a beat, then Ashley asked,br  
"How did an asari end up owing your father?"  
"He saved her life on Mindoir." Ashley shook her head in confusion.  
"Wait, what was an asari doing on Mindoir?" Shepard smiled and rubbed his neck.  
"I should probably start at the beginning. I was actually conceived on Thessia. My father was a part of the group that would establish diplomatic ties with the Asari Republics. A technological attaché. Once he found out my mother was pregnant, he resigned his commission - he had been scheduled in the following months to quite a few postings, many in contested territories. Naturally, this caused an uproar back on Earth. Pundits began ranting about his dereliction of duty, abandoning the Alliance when they needed him most." he made a circular motion with his hand. "you get the gist. Lyvanis, who had talked to my dad in his official capacity, seized on the controversy. Managed to swing my birth as 'an intimate moment' that would strengthen 'cultural understanding' as well as diplomatic ties. She got her faction to offer my parents a place to stay for the duration of my mothers pregnancy, as well as any medical help necessary." Shepard smiled slightly. "She became good friends with my parents, and would visit them, take them to see Thessia's sights with Nala. They stayed in contact after I was born and the hubbub died down. The Alliance grudgingly thanked my father for 'his bit of diplomatic serendipity' and offered him a place on Mindoir, free of charge." Shepard laughed. "Mostly to keep him from causing more trouble, I was told." Shepard's smile faded, and he continued. "Livy and Nala were visiting when the batarians came. By that time I had manifested biotic potential, so Livy - now the chief asari diplomat on Earth - was coming by to see if they could get me trained outside of Alliance programs." Shepard shrugged. "They tracked me down to the orphanage where the Alliance rescue teams had sent me and then adopted me."  
Ashley shook her head and smiled. "As an infant you were already a celebrity." Shepard laughed, but shifted slightly.  
"Not quite. My birth was famous, not me necessarily." He looked down and grinned. "But I'm told there were quite a few people on Thessia who were disappointed I wasn't going to be named Alyxis." Ashley laughed.  
"How different was it, growing up with an asari for a parent?" Shepard shrugged /"It was all I really knew." He grinned crookedly at a memory. "But do you know how annoying it is to be a teenager and have your mother be so bloody _patient?_ " The pair shared a laugh, and Ashley turned her head a bit, and quoted,  
" _Nothing but love this patience could produce; and I allow your rage that kind excuse_." Shepard smiled, his eyes seeing something far distant.  
"Aye. Dryden, right?" Ashley raised her eyebrows in surprise. Shepard held out his hands, smiling.  
"I studied languages in college. A lot of literature was involved." A comfortable silence passed between the two. Shepard ended it by motioning with his head towards the crew deck.  
"Get some rest Ash." Ashley smiled tiredly at him.  
"You got it, Skipper."

* * *

 _Author's note: As you might have noticed, I've messed with the Mass Effect timeline a bit. I've moved the First Contact War up about 10 years, happening in 2147 instead of 2157. This also means that the discovery on Mars happened in 2139, 9 years before canon. Shepard is still born in 2154, enough time for the galactic community's image of humanity to change, and make his birth story feasible.  
Mindoir's date is also moved, happening 7 years earlier, (2163) and starting a chain of batarian attacks on human colonies, culminating in the Skyllian Blitz in 2176 (its canon time). Humanity, wary of inciting more council sanctions, responded indirectly to the increasingly bold attacks on their colonies. The Council, unwilling to commit a move that might incite the Terminus systems against them, bound up the requests for aid in bureaucracy.  
Earth itself became divided, most of the planet-bound people wary of the political consequences of unilateral action. The colonists and space-faring factions were thoroughly furious at the continued inaction. As a result, Alliance military saw a much increased colonial and extra-Terran recruitment. It wasn't until 2175 that enough political momentum was gained to declare war against the batarian pirates and slavers (conveniently disavowed by the Hegemony) and send in more than the Council sanction garrison._  
 _Alexander Shepard joined the Alliance in 2174 - however he did not enlist. There will be more on that later, however._


	6. Chapter 6 (Therum)

VII) **Therum**

1) After Feros, Shepard set the team on an intensive search through Dr. T'soni's academic papers, cross referencing their publication dates and times to destinations and prothean ruins to create a trajectory of her movements. (Wrex was thoroughly unenthusiastic about it, but seemed thoughtful when Shepard showed him an estimation of what it would have taken them without using those methods.) They hone in on the Knossos system, and eventually, Therum.

Upon entering orbit, they detect Geth presence. It became a simple matter of following the Geth, extrapolating which set of ruins they hadn't searched, and then landing the Mako and blasting through the resistance. Wrex preferred that last part. Garrus did to, but his professional pride wouldn't let him admit it. They meet their subject suspended in a blue energy bubble, helpless, yet almost completely safe.  
"Help! Could you help me? I activated the security barriers because the Geth attacked me." The pretty young asari shook her head. "Geth! Can you believe it? Geth! outside the Perseus Veil!" There was some discussion among the team. Wrex stayed silent, while Ashley voiced her distrust, citing the fact that her mother had turned.  
"Ash, not everyone is as close to their family as you are." Ashley backed down.  
"I suppose that's true. Still. Be careful Skipper. Not all asari are as nice as Livy and Nala." Shepard shot her a look, half-annoyed. He knew that one from personal experience.  
"Spread out. Look for a way around the barrier curtain." He turned and looked at the elevator they had come down on. "Kaidan, Garrus, hold perimeter. Tali, see if you can find an interface or access port." Shepard looked at Wrex. "Guess we're searching the old fashioned way." Wrex grunted and holstered his assault rifle. He strode off toward the haphazardly stacked storage units on the other end of the enclosed cavern. Shepard turned to face the suspended archaeologist. He smiled slightly.  
"Hang in there, Dr. T'Soni. We'll get you out of there."  
"And I'm the one that needs a stint with Joker?" Ashley grumbled over comms.  
"Somehow I doubt you would have resisted the same temptation, Chief." Kaidan said wryly as Shepard shook his head and headed over to where Wrex was re-arranging the cargo containers.

(a) "How are you coming Tali?" Shepard asked as he peeked inside an empty container.  
"I've isolated what appears to be a power coupling."  
"Appears to be?"  
"It's... hard to tell. Rerouting power around it only makes the lights a level below Dr. T'Soni turn off." Shepard sighed.  
"Keep working. No telling when the geth reinforcements will catch up." A rumbling laugh emanates from the far corner of the cave, and Wrex rounds the bend holding a long box.  
"Superior firepower is always tactically sound." his face was carefully impassive. Shepard grinned at him in return. Setting the box down, Wrex lifted out the body of the laser. Shepard called Tali over, and they begin setting up the laser.  
"One minute, Shepard." Her hands activate her omni-tool, and begin flying in obscure patterns over the bare interface on the back of the laser. She calibrates it, then ran some calculations on the probable structural damage to the increasingly unstable lava-rock the ruins were situated on.  
"It should be okay." She says, her eyes scanning the data she received from her scans. She checked the floor, then back at her omni-tool. "Should be." she repeated, frowning. The others, oblivious to her uncertainty, power the laser on. There is a tremendous pulse of energy, followed by an equally ominous rumbling, and a giant hole was created in the sunken buildings structure, allowing them in past the barriers.

* * *

3) "What was that?" Dr. T'Soni asked, almost to herself. She hears the whir of an ancient elevator, and the the strange squad that claimed to be here to protect her appeared in her peripheral vision.  
"That console should get me down from here." Liara said, gesturing as much as she was able. She saw the quarian approach the console eagerly. There was a bit of hesitation as the ancient computer booted in script unreadable to all but the most learned of prothean scholars.  
"3rd button from the right!" their leader spoke without more than glancing at the haptic interface. Liara tilted her head slightly, curious.  
"How does he know that? He barely looked at it." the quarian muttered, apparently disgruntled. She pressed the button anyway, and the barrier dropped, and Liara fell with it. If she weren't tired and starving, she might have called on her biotic ability to slow her fall. Liara landed with what grace she could, the staggered to her feet.  
"Thank you, I... I am glad you came. Those geth might have killed me. Please, could you take me off-world? My ship is not supposed to return for another year."  
"How do we know we can trust you?" One of the Alliance marines leaned forward menacingly, her helmet obscuring her expression. The one called Shepard put a hand on her shoulder and eases her backwards, away from Liara.  
"Not the time." He says as he moves past her. He steps forward and offers his hand. Liara stared at it for a second before recalling what little she knew about humans. She shook the hand.  
"I'm Commander Shepard. We're here to rescue you, and we might need your help." Shepard looked over his shoulder and said nonchalantly, "she's not had enough practice to lie well while terrified, Ash."  
"How would you-" Liara's shocked exclamation was cut off as the ground lurched, and everyone stumbled.  
"Up the elevator! Go!" Shepard calls as the ground and the ruins give another gut-wrenching shake. Liara looked from him to the team, to the tower that felt like it was sinking. Weighing her odds, she chose the human commander.

4) "I don't have time to deal with this idiot!" Shepard shouted as their group came face to face with the krogan battlemaster leading his squadron of geth. Liara took a small moment to be awed at the fact that the human was staring down one of the deadliest forces known to the universe and had the nerve to be annoyed.  
"heh, I like you, human." The krogan battle master chuckles once, before Garrus' round breaks his shielding. He raised his own weapon, and was thrown backwards by a joint push by Kaidan and Shepard. Liara stared uncomprehendingly at the lava rising around them, fear turning her usually overactive mind into blank buzzing. The Geth gained purchase on the small squad, and began a flanking maneuver. The Commander glowed with a dark corona, and ran forward screaming. It was a terrifying sound, a roar and a war whoop rolled into one. The krogan stood up, flared his own biotic field, and met the charging human laughing maniacally.  
"Professor! A little help!" It was the female human. Somehow, though there were two barriers and a few geth between them, Liara felt her glare. The buzzing in her head increased. She peeked above the edge of her makeshift cover, and noticed that bullets weren't bouncing off of it. She ducked back down. She could do this. Liara took a deep breath focused. Her fist glowed in the bright blue light. She peeked over the barrier again.  
"Doctor! NOW!" One of the other humans - Kaidan, she thought yelled.  
And Liara moved. Before she could think, before she could push the fear in her head away, she stood up and yelled. A pulse of dark energy erupted from her still form, slamming into the conveniently grouped geth, flinging them bodily into the lava that was beginning to creep over the edge of their small platform. Liara stared at her hands in shock. Where had that come from? The ground shook again, and when she looked up, the Commander was pushing her onward, motioning towards the walkway. She ran.

* * *

5) Back on the Normandy, Shepard watched their acquisition with concern. As the rest of the team stripped off their armor or complained about their wounds, or simply sighed in relief of making it safely out of what was effectively a geth-filled volcano, Liara sat by herself, in a daze. She made no move towards the new set of clothes that Ensign Draven had thoughtfully put out for her. She sat, staring at the wall in blank incomprehension. Ash came to stand beside him.  
"Can we trust her, skipper?" she asked quietly. Shepard sighed, and turned to face her.  
"She's not good at lying." He smiled slightly. "And asari as a rule are very good at lying."  
"Sounds like there's a story behind that comment."  
"There is." Shepard said quietly. He turned away for a second. "But asari like her are dangerous. The best liars are the ones most familiar with the truth. The ones who were guileless before." Ash looked at him, concerned.  
"We can trust her for now. She's exhausted, in shock, and starving." A strange expression flitted across his face, and he tilted his head slightly. "She's not eaten in 6 solar days, in fact."  
"How did you know that?"  
"I... don't know. It came..." He turned to look at Ashley, his eyebrows furrowed. "I knew when I shook her hand. It was..." He frowned. "An influx. Information. Her character, the marks of things that had recently happened to her." A bit of silence passed, and then Shepard said softly. "She's young, Ash. Go easy on her. She's already done better than most civvies in combat." Ashley nodded uncertainly, and Shepard clapped her on the shoulder, then strode off towards the blank-faced Asari. Tali, despite having the least to do after-mission, was one of the last to leave the lockers. She looked between Ashley and the bench where Shepard was introducing himself to the doctor. Again. Ashley shrugged at Tali, and the two left the garage.

a) It was a bit of surprise when the asari and Shepard walked into the debriefing together, but the Normandy crew, used to the quirks of their commander, said nothing. Liara initially sat in her seat as if she was afraid of encroaching on the personal space of those around her. Everyone noticed the marked change in her when the Protheans were brought up, however. She got up, pacing, and seemed oblivious to the knowing stares among the team as she mentioned a 'cycle of extinction'.  
When the crew updated her on the 'collected memories of the protheans' given to Shepard, she sat down in shock. She rubbed her face, then looked up at Shepard, who had said little so far.  
"That's how you knew what button to press!" She said excitedly. Shepard tilted his head slightly.  
"Very perceptive."  
"But you say you still don't understand the beacon's message?" Shepard frowned, then said slowly,  
"It's... bits and pieces, like the message is corrupted."  
"Maybe I can help." Liara was up and pacing again. "What you know of the protheans, you know from an inside perspective. Things that would seem obvious enough to overlook for you would stand out to me. I've studied them for more than half my life." Shepard said nothing for a second, then said quietly,  
"And you're offering this out of the goodness of your heart?" Liara flushed, her cheeks growing darker.  
"I.. admit my professional curiosity. You were offered a chance that many would kill to have." She looked up, her eyes shining. "Think of it! The memories of an entire race!"  
"Would you kill to have it?"  
"What? No! Never!" Liara looked at Shepard, her eyes wide and horrified. "That would be.. monstrous. To destroy someone's future for a relic of the past?" She straightened. "I have a duty to the past. But it does not come before my duty to the present." Shepard stood up, and Liara seemed to shrink a bit before him.  
"Very well. You may Join with me. Help us understand why Saren needs the Conduit and what the Protheans wanted us to know."  
"You have joined with someone before?" Liara said, suddenly shy.  
"Something like that." Shepard's face was expressionless.  
"That's how he got the Cipher Liara." Kaidan supplied.  
"Very well Commander. Relax. Embrace Eternity!"

b) The resulting influx of an entire species' memories and the flood of new haptic perceptions caused Liara to nearly faint. She excuses herself from the debriefing. Chakwas fusses over her a bit, then suggests Liara rests somewhere quiet without a lot of loud noises. They settle on the medical station behind the bay itself. Once alone, she collapses into the chair, and holds her head in her hands, her head bursting with the combined weight of the Cipher and the frankly disturbing visions of the Prothean's collapse into chaos at the hands of the Reapers.

She didn't know how long she had sat there, holding her head, desperately searching to control her own experience, when a pneumatic hiss disrupted her meditation. She started, spinning to see who had entered. It was only later she realized she hadn't heard any footsteps, just the door. The Commander stood before her, his face oddly concerned.  
"How are you handling it?" he said softly.  
"It is - formidable." Liara rubbed her temples, and looked up at the Commander. "And you received the beacon's message without the Cipher?" Shepard nodded, and she let out a breath. "You must be extraordinarily strong-willed, to survive something like that." A slight smile appeared on the Commander's face.  
"I believe one of my instructors called me 'stubborn as a mountain faced with an eviction notice." Shepard made a pained face. "She fancied herself a poet." Liara laughed, then clutched her face as one of the cipher's persistent images flashed in front of her eyes.  
"It fades with time." Shepard said softly. "You're strong. It will not master you if you do not let it." Liara nodded, a strange hope forming at the words. It was a badly needed tonic against the overwhelming despair and rage that accompanied the beacon's insistent, incoherent message.  
"Thank you. You had every reason to distrust me, yet you did not." Shepard shifted uncomfortably in reply.  
"I knew I could trust you." Hesitant, he continued, "You will notice... changes. I don't think the Protheans perceived sensory details the same way we did. The sense of touch..." Shepard looked down at his hands. "You touch people, and you _understand_ things about them. Things that have marked them. Using an omni-tool becomes much more intuitive as well." he added wryly.

c) Liara staggered, the beacon asserting its message once again. Unthinking, Shepard put out a hand to save her from falling. They both freeze, receiving a disorienting flash of input.

i)Shepard sees a young asari who'd cast herself adrift on the currents of the past finding herself suddenly in a position to direct the future. He sees her hesitancy, her self-doubt, the old, never-quite healed wound of her and her mother's separation, and the damage that news of Benezia's treachery had wrought. He also sees a core of strength as hard and blazing as the Normandy's drive core.  
Liara sees a man who's lost everything but his convictions, the consummate soldier not by choice, but by necessity. A man who held no hope for himself, but marched on nonetheless, holding to his beliefs in spite of what they might cost him.  
They both laughed nervously.

"I apologize, I was supposed to be comforting you." Shepard said, rubbing the back of his neck. He lowered his hand, and looked back up at Liara. "I don't know exactly what you saw. But we are going to stop them. Saren will not reach the Conduit. We will stop the Reaper's return. I will not allow this cycle of destruction to begin again." His voice was firm, commanding. But he lowered his eyes. "I won't keep you." he finally said, and walked out. After the door had hissed closed, Liara said distantly to the empty room, her head spinning,  
"He doesn't expect to survive."


	7. Chapter 7 - Side Tracked (Tali)

Flying from Therum, Engineer Adams requests Shepard's approval in making some repairs and modifications to better improve ability in-atmo, especially in dangerous situations like the one they'd just flown from.  
"As you can see Commander, the shear forces on the wings were approaching uncomfortable levels as Joker dodged geth fire and attempted to exfiltrate the away team. The intense updrafts from the heat of the unstable tectonic movements exacerbated a problem that would have otherwise been overlooked."  
"How bad is she chief?" Shepard asked. Adams grinned slightly.  
"She's hurting Commander, she's just too classy to show it." Shepard put an arm on Adams' shoulder.  
"Well, let's not let our lady suffer for too long. You had some ideas for modifications?"  
"Actually sir, Tali is spearheading that." Adams led them over to Tali's workstation. Shepard pretended not to notice that she had been glancing their way every 15 seconds for the past few minutes. Her presentation was halting at first, but quickly gained speed and confidence as the details got more technical, and Shepard pretended to keep up. By the end, he had a vague understanding of the modifications, but thoroughly approved of them all.

After he dismissed the crew to begin the proposed modifications, he hung around Tali's station.  
"You seem to be integrating well. Adams already relies heavily on you."  
Tali seemed surprised. "Oh! Yes, it's been great." She shifted on her feet, wringing her hands. Shepard looked at her expectantly. She glanced down at her console, then back at him.  
"I... I guess I still feel out of place. It's not the crew - they've all been great to me, really. Especially Adams. And your ship is amazing. The Normandy runs so smooth, and the engines are so quiet. How do you sleep at night?"  
Shepard looked at her for a second. "The silence wakes you up?" He asked?  
"Back on the flotilla the last thing you want to hear is silence. It means an engine's died or an air filter has shut down. I guess you don't have to worry about that here. But old habits die hard."  
"Habits? You were involved in the engineering? I thought the pilgrimage was a coming-of-age ritual?"  
"Well, yes. But my father always had high expectations. He got me an engineering apprenticeship several years before the traditional age - and being an Admiral, he was always up in such occasions as well. 'the fleet needs you, Tali'Zorah.' he would say to me." Tali bent her knees slightly, and folded her arms -a Quarian sign of inhibition, according to Shepard's research. She wasn't saying something. Shepard turned to face the drive core, leaning on the railing. "He sounds like a driven man."  
Tali let out a short, homesick laugh. "He is that." A rueful tone entered her voice, nearly hidden by the modulator. She hesitated a second, then asked, "What about your family?"

Adams, who had been working on a pad some distance away, keeping one ear to the conversation, looked up and shook his head in frantic warning - too late. Tali winced, but held to her question. Shepard was silent for a long moment, staring off into the flickering blue of the drive core. He smiled distantly.  
"My father was a big man – or maybe that's just how I remember him. But everything he did was big. He was an engineer. The other colonists were happy with a water filtration system for their homes. He didn't rest until he'd set up a system for the entire colony. They wanted a large gathering place for provincial-wide gatherings. He didn't rest until he'd built a massive marble building." Shepard didn't take his eyes off of the drive core. "While he was working on the filtration system. For a while he just didn't rest. He'd wake me up in the middle of the night, typing corrections to some diagram or another, and I'd peek my head around into the corner of our little prefab home that hosted his computer. It didn't matter how late it was, how much sleep I needed to be getting that I wasn't – he'd take me on his knee and let me sit there, and just work on around me, answering whatever silly little questions popped into my tired, 5 year old mind. We'd sit like that until I fell asleep. I'd wake up in my bed in the morning, and find a little note with a little joke on it, or a 'project idea' for me to help with." Shepard laughed a faraway laugh, his green eyes unnaturally bright, even in the reflected light of the Tantalus core. He hadn't noticed, but all the engineers were standing still, trying desperately to look like they weren't listening in.  
"Even at 5, he had me practice making biotic fields. He even had me help lift some of the heavier stones for the town hall." Shepard looked down at the Alliance insignia on his shirt, and said, "He never did like the Alliance though. Not sure what he'd have thought of my decision."

Adams walked up beside them, and he put a hand on Shepard's shoulder. "He'd be proud of you, Commander. Whatever his feelings about the Alliance might have been, no one can say that you've been anything but a force of good – for the Alliance and the galaxy."  
There was a slight pause, and Shepard nodded gratefully at his Chief Engineer. "Thank you Adams. Tali." Shepard stared at the drive core for a second more, then said, "I should go," His voice measured and even again.  
Tali didn't say anything until she heard the soft whirr of the Normandy's elevator ascending to the command deck. She looked at Adams. "Was that a bad question?" She sighed. "His father was a good man. Is he –"  
Adams nodded. He turned to face his console. "I'm not one to tell tales Tali. If you want the general idea search the extranet for 'the attack on Mindoir'. I don't think anyone knows exactly what happened save the Commander, and that was the most open he's ever been about it."  
One of the other engineers spoke up. "Anderson even sent us an email asking us not to pester him about it. But really – an entire cruiser at 9?"  
"Morris…" Adams said, warning the younger man.  
Morris looked chastened. "Sorry Chief."

* * *

Bullets and shrapnel exploded across the shipping crate, the geth projectiles chewing into the steel. Shepard panted, the squatting next to Wrex and Garrus as they endured the withering fire. Ashley and Kaidan were some distance to the left of them, and Liara and Tali to their right. The Geth had them in a crossfire, peeking out from outcrops in mountains around them, and on the roof of the colonial structure in front of them.

"The flashlights are sending a squad to flush us out skipper." Ashley said, sounding harried. Shepard peeked around the corner, and swore, seeing a heavily armored Juggernaut and two troopers moving with machined grace over the rough terrain.  
"Liara, on my mark, give a massive push on the _Yakhari_ coming at us."  
Liara's shaky breath was audible over comms, but she seemed calmed by the Asari invective. "Got it Shepard."  
"Tali, disrupt their signal best you can. Ashely, Kaidan, cross us, knock out the ones on the roof. Garrus, drop back, grab the snipers on the hills. Wrex, you're with me." Wrex roared, popped around cover, and drove the juggernaut back four paces with a tight burst from his assault rifle.  
"Mark!" Shepard roared. His team kicked into action.

Ashley echoed Wrex, and yelled as she leaped her cover and lit up the geth on the room. The juggernaut and his companions flew in front of them, a blue corona flashing.  
"Shepard! it didn't take!" Tali's voice sounded suddenly, real fear coloring it. Half the team shouted, and bullets sprayed. The juggernaut, let out a blast from his gun, still prone. Ashley was blasted off her feet, spinning a meter in the air and coming down on her back, tearing into the red earth of the planet. Kaidan shouted, and dove for her, landing on top, barrier around his body. One of the troopers rolled a flashbang at the feet of Shepard and Wrex, who got a faceful of white noise and flared light. Garrus cracked into place, and got of three shots off. Three Geth snipers shuddered and went still.  
"I can't hold commander!" Kaidan voice cracked with desperation. Garrus spun around and leveled his gun at the last sniper. The geth fired first. Garrus jerked, his left shoulder spinning backwards. He grimaced and held his gun straight, and pulled the trigger - one handed. The last geth shuddered and went still. There was a hiss, as the settlement's doors opened, just as Shepard got his sight back.  
"Your team is breaking." Wrex said, his voice strangely calm.  
"Well stop it from happening!" Shepard yelled. Wrex grinned, and then roared, and charged ahead, straight at the advancing Juggernaut. Shepard joined him, charging his body with a biotic barrier. Time slowed. Wrex, glowing with his own corona, slammed into the team sent to flush them out, taking out all three in one, massive charge. As the Geth went flying off their feet, he blasted on with his shotgun, then executed the others as they hit the ground. Shepard speared forward, becoming a blue blur, aimed a the reinforcements from the structure. He stopped, but kept the mass effect field moving. The doorway crumpled inwards as a massive force hit it, slamming all three reinforcing geth into the crates behind them. One's head was sheared off, spraying coolant on its brethren. The other two sparked and jerked, their bodies dashed to pieces along with the crates they'd hit. Shepard stood for three long seconds, his sense hyper-alert, adrenaline and biotic energy sparking through his system.  
"Clear." he finally said, scanning the remains of the cannibalized colonial structure. Geth wiring carpeted the floors and the walls, centering on one main console in the middle of the room.  
"Clear" his team echoed, one by one, some stronger than others. Wrex, blood dripping from three places in his armor, grinned a vicious grin at Shepard. Shepard raised a fist in salute to the Krogan, noticing the plates on his gauntlet had cracked in four places.  
"Report." Shepard barked, post-battle euphoria suddenly evaporating.

The price was high. Garrus, Ashley, Kaiden, and Liara all had wounds that would take some time to recover. Liara had taken a bit of shrapnel for Tali, as she had been frantically working with her omni-tool. Wrex had been injured as well, but he refused to let Chakwas work on him, grunting that wounds never scarred right after doctors messed with them.

It wasn't entirely unprecedented when Shepard asked to transfer Admiral Hackett to the war room, but Pressly was still surprised. Most of the conversation was obscured, but muffled shouting did manage to make its way through. Pressly had a crewmember alert him when Shepard emerged, metaphorical steam rolling off of him.  
"Politics, Commander?" Pressly asked. Shepard wearily rubbed his eyes. He hadn't rested since their assault planet-side.  
"Politics." he grumbled.  
"Damned good team you're forming, even if half are aliens." Pressly whistled softly. "40 geth and no casualties." Shepard gave him a wary look, his eyes unreadable, then he sighed.  
"Brass wanted me to repeat the stunt. On every planet in the system."  
"The geth are that entrenched here?" Pressly asked, incredulous. Shepard nodded. Pressly clapped his superior officer on the shoulder, suddenly feeling his pain.  
"You talk Hackett down?" Shepard snorted.  
"No." Pressly frowned. Hackett was a stubborn old battleship, but he wasn't unreasonable.  
"He's sending a single squad of N5 operatives. Fresh out of daycare." Shepard rubbed his eyes again. Pressly winced. _Daycare_ was the term of endearment for the weeks of grueling training that every soldier went through. While the reinforcements could make their bunks in less than 5 seconds flat, they would be green as a batch of ship-grown grass.  
"You've done more with less, Commander." Pressly gently reminded him. Shepard sighed, but nodded.  
"Thanks Pressly." Pressly slapped him on the shoulder once again, then headed back to his post, noting the Commander's eyes were already thoughtful.

* * *

Miraculously, they seized the next four geth stations without incident. The arrived N5 troops were wide eyed, but competent, honored to be working with the Hero of the Skyllian blitz, the first human SpecTRe. They were a little wary of the aliens at first, Wrex's dry sense of humor didn't particularly help things. However, they took a shine to Tali, who, burdened by the guilt of her failed countermeasure, worked ceaselessly to improve her combat performance and general helpfulness. So much so that Adams had to take her aside to tell her not to overstretch herself. The determined quarian nodded seriously to Adams, then proceeded to ignore the advice completely. By the time they had reached the fifth planet in the chain, she knew the most of any on the _Normandy_ about geth, and had developed more sophisticated anti-synthetic weaponry than was available even through Shepard's new SpecTRe channels. Kaidan and Garrus would occasionally help her when she needed extra hands, but by the end of the that long week, her work had gone way past their expertise.

Their assault of the final planet went off without a hitch as a result. Joker took out the dropship in orbit, preventing geth reinforcements. The ground team plus their N5 recruits, moved swiftly through the resistance. The colonists were stacked gruesomely on the dragons teeth, but seemed to lack the sudden, terrifying vitality that had appeared post-mortem on Eden Prime. They shot them all the same. The recruits were used to it by now, but the haunted look reappeared every time the geth spikes did. There were more geth present at this final site - one last push to hold on on to the information collected. Tali's defenses scrambled their sensors, and they all went stiff at once. The N5 recruits threw tech-mines, disrupting the southern flank while Shepard, Liara, Wrex, and Kaiden used their biotics to funnel the frontal assault into a killzone.

The battle was over in minutes. As they ensured they had truly killed the machines, Tali motioned Shepard over. Shepard's boots crunched on the burnt gravel in front of the the nominal center of the annihilated colony town. He opened his helmet visor as Tali shifted back and forth, opening her omni-tool and scanning the downed geth units around her.  
"Shepard, none of these units have flashed their memory cores." The commander could hear the frown in her voice. He crouched down, examining the remains.  
"We were quick, but not that quick." He said, looking up at the quarian. She nodded.  
"I'm downloading the data to a segregated drive. It could be the most internal information on the geth in generations." She said. Shepard tried to recall the body language cues he'd learned from his readings. Tali was bouncing her knees, slightly, and flexing her toes, even as her omni-tool flashed in recognition of her haptic commands. The passage eluded him, but he had gotten better at connecting the dots, and assumed a mixture of excitement and anticipation. Shepard stood.  
"Or it could be a trap."  
"Could be they're trying to tell us something Commander." Kaidan walked up, his own omni-tool flaring the usual bright orange.  
"Perhaps - but what?" Shepard mused, striding towards the village's meeting building. As he and the team approached the command center, Tali, dashed over the central console.  
"Commander! The console is still operational!" her omni-tool out, she hardly noticed as the back-up squad made their way, carefully stepping over the wire carpeting.  
"Commander, I've got a bead on Saren's warship!" Joker's voice crackled over the comms. Everyone tensed. "Permission to pursue?"  
"Can you mark it?"  
"Holy... Negative Commander. He's halfway to the relay already." Shepard swore, and turned to his N5 team.  
"Check the area for any presents Saren might have left us." Nguyen, the defacto leader, saluted, and began ordering his men to search the room. A low chuckle echoed around the chamber, and three huge krogan came charging from all corners, seemingly from nowhere. Decked out in geth-designed armor, they blended with the hive of wires and mysterious lights that blinked in odd places throughout the commandeered room. One bowled into the marines, sending one flying and blasting away one's shielding with a blow of its shotgun. Another roared and headed for Tali, who was hunched over the console in the middle of the room. She looked up, her silver eyes going wide, and hunched down again. Ashley and Wrex stormed in behind the krogan, and took shots at its knees. Its barrier flickered, but didn't give way.

The krogan after Shepard was the biggest of the lot, a blue corona surrounding and protecting its form. Shepard instinctually drew his pistol, the firearm puny next to the roaring bulk of metal and muscle. He executed a mnemonic and sent a small warp at the battlemaster as he reached to throw Shepard through the wall. The impacting mass effect fields exploded, staggering the krogan, and blasting the hip joint (and shield generator) of the charging alien. Shepard allowed a blue corona to surround his fists, and began his own charge. Tali gave a shout of triumph, and there was a sudden hiss and whine as the servos and joints of the krogan warriors sealed. Shepard's fell chin-first onto his coming biotic uppercut, shattering the jaw and sending two tons falling flat backwards. Shepard put 10 rounds into the krogan's eyes, not taking chances. The N5 team had recovered beautifully, and efficiently ventilated the krogan between them, recovering from the shock of the charge. Wrex ended the one charging Tali. No one saw the flicker of remorse in his impenetrable red eyes as he did so.

"Tali, you're amazing." Shepard said. The marines agreed fervently, and went to give the quarian their enthusiastic praise and back-slapping. She began babbling and wringing her hands, giving a thorough explanation of what exactly she'd done. It was completely incomprehensible to the marines, but they whooped encouragingly all the same.

Wrex stomped over to the fallen battlemaster, his scarred face expressionless. True battlemasters were rare. Extremely rare. A corona flickered over his hands briefly, as he closed his eyes and smelled deeply of the fallen krogan. Pale. Sterile. Pain. Wrex opened his eyes, and nudged the body with a foot, a slight frown creasing the corners of his wide mouth. Exactly the same as the other three they'd found in this campaign.

i) "Shepard, I need to talk to you. It's important. You know the data we saved from the geth control nodes?" Tali's visor shifted down, then back up, the bright spots in her face plate widening, and her hands shifting."I want a copy of it."  
"You want to bring it back to the Fleet?"  
"That information could be vital for allowing us to understand the geth. It could be the key to helping us reclaim the homeworld!" Shepard looked her up and down, seeing the earnest plea in her voice. He connected the dots.  
"It would make a fine pilgrimage gift." he said quietly. Tali nodded once, expectant. "Your pilgrimage would be over. Would you got back to the Migrant Fleet?" Shepard shook his head, and help up a hand, forestalling the answer.  
"You saved all of us down there - multiple times. Go ahead and make a copy."  
"I- And my people- owe you a great debt. One we can never repay." Tali reached out and hesitantly touched Shepards forearm. "The only thing I can offer is what you already have: My solemn promise to stay with you until Saren and his geth army are defeated." Shepard couldn't see her face, but her body language and tone indicated a rare pride, and a drive unmatched. He bowed his head.  
"That's all I could ever ask, Tali."


	8. Chapter 8 - Side Tracked (Liara)

Liara rubbed her eyes and leaned forward, examining the Prothean data disc in the scanner before her. Found in a derelict orbiting in an asteroid field, studying it and the other's they'd come across carrying out the Council's will in the deep regions of space had provided a welcome distraction from the alarming amount of training Shepard had been putting her through. She rolled her shoulders ruefully. She had asked to be a part of the ground team, rage and a desire to make herself useful on the human ship driving her to places she hadn't known she could go. She'd expected the Commander to scoff and keep her prisoner, contained. But he'd reached out and touched her arm, that flash of sudden, unfamiliar, exchange making them both stumble. She'd understood the deep red and black grief that followed his own thoughts of family, and the towering bastion that was his protectiveness of what was becoming an extension of his new family - the Normandy. He'd nodded, then told her she might regret it.

Approximately 320 hours of training and 3 ground missions later, and weeks of being sore in places she didn't know she could be sore, she was beginning to get a feel for what it was like to be a human marine. The experience startled her, but training with the team had softened the distance that the others had kept from her. The Gunnery Chief in particular had turned the more biting of her sarcasm away from her, though she had not relented on the teasing. Liara smiled slightly. Lieutenant Alenko had assured her that it never would.

There was a hiss as the med-bay door slid open, and Dr. Chakwas entered, bickering with the Commander.  
"Why didn't you mention that your flashbacks were continuing hm? We could have done something before now" The doctor's tone was tinged with frustration, but contained an air of implacability. The commander seemed frustrated, and muttered something about prothean mind-games.  
"Little wonder you've been haggard all week. You're not getting enough sleep."

Liara half stood, uncertain.  
"Is there something I can do for you Commander, Doctor?"

The Commander looked at Chakwas, who glared at him reprovingly, hands on her hips. Liara tilted her head, curious at the half-smile that formed on the SpecTRe's lips.  
"Dr. T'Soni, how are you holding up?"  
"I am improving, Commander. Your training regimen is... extensive." Shepard nodded curtly.  
"It will keep you alive into the sort of odds we always seem to be facing." He stepped forward, and tilted his head slightly to one side and forward, perhaps unknowingly mimicking asari body language - an intricate series of subtle motions that was almost as advanced as a language for the matriarchs of the Asari. This was a challenging gesture, and inquisitive. Liara felt her back automatically straightening, and frowned slightly.  
"But that's not what I meant. How are you coping with the beacon, and the Cipher?"  
Liara hesitated, flashes of screams, blood and metal appearing behind her eyes. Waking up every night, panting, crying, and drenched in cold sweat, the dying gasps of batarians and protheans alike still ringing in her ears.  
"I am coping." She said, lowering her eyes slightly. Shepard didn't seemed convinced. He looked at Chakwas. An understanding seemed to come between them, and the doctor left the lab room.

Shepard moved forward, and sat down beside her, turning to face her directly. His voice softened.  
"You're seeing things, aren't you? They're haunting your sleep, chemically induced or no." Liara looked up at him, watching the bewildering array of rapid muscle movements on the human's face. While similar to Asari faces, human expressions were much less deliberate, and seemed much more random. "And it's not just prothean horrors and the reapers." Shepard guessed. Liara nodded reluctantly.  
"I- I did not know batarians could make those sorts of sounds." She said quietly. Reflections of old pain crossed the Commander's features. Liara paused, and held her hands out, supplicating. "I do not mean to cause offense, or reopen old wounds." The commander's serious grey eyes bored into hers.  
"And I did not mean to pass my wounds onto you." He took a breath. "The good doctor wants us to attempt another joining - to sort out both the beacon, and old memories." He paused for a second. "And the changes the cipher brought." Liara nodded.  
"I have kept those secret as you wished. But Private Dubyanski has an unfortunate habit of - I believe it is called high-fiving?" Liara shook her head. "He is beginning to suspect something. Apparently I act as if I am shocked by static at the contact." Shepard drew his lips together, thoughtful.  
"I will inform Doctor Chakwas after this, if we cannot gain some insight into it. I would prefer to maintain the element of surprise, but..." he trailed off, then refocused on Liara. "we should attempt this joining. To sort out the information between us." His voice turned kindly. "are you willing, Liara?" He hesitated a moment then said even softer - "You inherited my pain without the healing. I would fix that, if I can." Liara nodded, and instinctively reached out her hands to take Shepard's. The contact sent a flush of impressions. Liara leaned forward, beginning the mantra. "relax, Shepard. Find a place of peace, and Embrace -"

Every joining was different, Liara had been told. Every mind reacts differently to the touch of another on its own, and the effects change. Sometimes there were visions, sometimes only strains of some strange music echoing from nowhere. So when she found herself standing atop a granite mountain, the wind whistling through her lab coat, she was only partially surprised. A lilting asari voice with a heavy accent of the northern continents of Thessia, carried on the wind, coming from everywhere and nowhere.

"Distance, and perspective, Alexander. Listen to the wind, and let your emotions burn atop it. Your survival is not guilt. Your parent's deaths are not yours to claim. You are strong, and your actions saved more lives than you know."  
"This was not the first time she said that. Nor was it the last." Shepard appeared beside her, seeming small against the wind and the snow. "it was the first time is sunk in."

The scene shifted and changed, becoming an ancient horizon, tall obsidian towers framed against a bleeding sun. The world was on fire. Hordes of tall, aliens with triangular heads and strange weapons fought desperate battles against an oncoming horde. A red beam shot down from the sky and carved a fiery chunk in the earth, arriving at their position, and all went white. There came flashes of inexplicable violence, worlds destroyed, a tall, chipped stone statue in the shape of an unknown alien, and then thunderous words that echoed in flat space, driving out all thought with their very weight.

" **THERE IS NO WAR, ONLY THE HARVEST"**

* * *

Liara gasped and fell backward, landing hard on the rubber mats that lined the lab station. She gasped and coughed, tears streaming down her cheeks. She sat up, scooting herself back to lean against the bulkhead, staring as the marine opposite her sat up. His eyes were dry, though he looked as if all his insides had been scooped out and then presented to him at dinner. He lifted his head to look at her. The quiet beeps of the lab equipment sounded, incongruent with the horror they'd just witnessed.  
Liara found her voice around the lump in her throat. "Those were the Reapers." Shepard stared at her, the shadows and his high cheekbones make his face look skull-like. He nodded slowly. Liara burst into an ugly sob, tears streaming down her cheeks, her body shaking.

"Why would my mother want that?" she managed to choke out, and gave fully into her grief. A moment later she felt Shepard slide down the bulkhead next to her, and put an arm around her. She curled into his shoulder and sobbed harder.

There came the hiss of the door, as Chakwas rounded the corner, a look of alarm on her face. She took the situation at a glance, and rushed over, helped Liara up, and began fussing over her and making all the right calming noises, and escorted her away. Liara clung to her like a life-ring, tears falling unabated. When she returned some time later, she found Shepard where she'd left him, staring blankly at the opposite wall. She faced him, her hands going to her hips.  
"You sure know how to sweep them off their feet, Shepard." The dry remark caused the commander to look up and give a faint smile, though the hollow look never left his eyes. He levered himself up, and straightened his duty fatigues.  
"We got a clear look at what we're facing. What future Saren," Shepard gave Chakwas a significant look "And Benezia are creating." Chakwas nodded in understanding, her face taking a grave cast.  
"It was that bad?"  
"Worse than you know." Shepard said, rubbing his hands over his face. He looked up. "And Doctor, I want this kept off record, but were some side effects of the Cipher..."

* * *

At the end of the shift, Shepard sat down to eat in the mess, the unappetizing meat-loaf the synthesizer created before him. He felt drained. More than just the fatigue of the intensive training he'd just put his ground team through. He hadn't expected her to, but Liara had shown up, her eyes dry and head held high, and had responded to the drills with singular intensity, ignoring Ashley's good-natured ribbing and Kaidan's concerned stares. It was an alarming change, but evidence of the drive he'd seen lurking beneath the soft-spoken and uncertain surface.

He'd just begun to dig into the unappetizing meal when Garrus strode up, his shoulders set and mandibles flicking anxiously at odd intervals.

"Shepard - I was hoping you could do me a favor." Shepard nodded and gestured for Garrus to sit down. He opened his omni-tool, and tapped a few buttons.  
"This is the transponder signal for the ship the MSV Fedele. You remember that case I told you about -..."


	9. Chapter 9 - Shortcut

**A/N:** _I always had an issue with Garrus' loyalty mission in ME1. Garrus capitulated too easily. It demonstrated his need to see justice delivered, but the crux of the issue: what's vengeance, what's vigilantism, and why the means must justify the end. In part, this is because the actual mission is not the focus of the side-plot - it's over in minutes, Saleon dead and everything. It's the conversation, which was way too short._

 _I've kept pretty close to canon thus far, but things will begin to diverge more clearly from this chapter on. I will be moving away from the outline format, as I will be needing to fill in more of the story._

 _Also, this chapter is long. Sorry about that._

 _Don't forget to review and comment!_

* * *

"What was the point of that Shepard? It would have ended that way had we asked nicely or gone in hot!" Garrus slammed a gauntleted fist against the Mako, causing the suspension to rock slightly with the force. "You were specifically elevated by the council to be above pointless rules and regulations! He nearly escaped!" Shepard stood calmly, his face indecipherable.  
"Why are you angry Garrus?" The question was calm. Garrus's mandibles twitched, and he poked a finger at Shepard.  
"Because I didn't give up my career in C-Sec to run into the same pointless procedural posturing that pushed me from it in the first place!" Shepard seemed unmoved.  
"And yet the end was the same. Saleon can't hurt anyone else, and you got to put the bullet in his brain yourself." Shepard tilted his head slightly, an infuriating expression of patient confusion on his face. Garrus curled his hands into fists  
"You were going to _take him in._ " Let him live while a series of over-educated self-absorbed _politicians_ decide whether or not the demonstrable psychopath is a candidate for therapy!"  
"What were the victim's names?" Shepard said. His eyes were suddenly shrewd. Garrus looked to the side, then, back.  
"There were 59, three entire human families, 21 salarians and 16 turians, two elcor, a volus and 6 asari."  
"and their names?"  
"I don't have time to list-"  
"You waited two years to find the bastard, you have time to list his known victims."  
"There were the Adamsen's, a human family, and two of the asari were from the southern continent of Thessia- they were stranded after someone stole their credit chit -" Shepard waited patiently, and Garrus frowned, mandibles twitching, and quieted.  
"You weren't after justice, Garrus. You wanted vengeance." Shepard eyed him coldly. "And I'm not even sure it was for Saleon's victims."  
"What spirit made you arbiter?" Garrus snarled. Garrus was an extremely skilled hand-to-hand combatant, and so he managed two swings before he was flat on his back. He had already made to roll backwards and up, when Shepard's boot suddenly ground itself into the plates on the right side of his face, causing the visor to dig in.  
"You're out of line, Detective." Shepard said. "While you're down there, I want you to consider two things. Firstly, Every single batarian on the cruiser that helped destroy Mindoir is dead. That fact has never helped me sleep at night, nor has it erased the memory of my mother's dying screams. Vengeance turns good men into its tools, and consumes everything that makes life worth living. Secondly," Shepard lifted his foot off of Garrus' face. The turian sat up slowly, eyes narrow.  
"Justice is impartial. Justice is impersonal. Justice is an immense burden. If you are to carry it, you must carry it every damn step of the way. _There are no shortcuts_. Sometimes people and situations will force you down the bloodier path. But if you are to be just, that should always be their choice, always a consequence of their actions, not your own. In short," Shepard leaned down, and offered a hand to Garrus, who took it, and pulled himself up. "You can't control how people will act, Garrus. But you can control how you'll respond. In the end, that's the only way to be just."

Garrus gave the enigmatic human a hard look, staring at him for a thoughtful second. He gave a half-laugh. "You sound like my father." He rubbed the spot underneath his visor ruefully. "Argue like him too." Shepard laughed, clapped the turian on the back, and began the process of stripping off his hardsuit.

* * *

"Pressly, did we receive any tips on Saren's activities while we were out?" Shepard asked, the ship's VI connecting him to Pressly's station.  
"I'm afraid not, Commander. Tali'Zorah is working on the geth comm-buoy we found in the system, but her preliminary reports have not been optimistic." Shepard sighed quietly. He'd sent out a request for all alliance fleets to log their interactions with all comm buoys. Tali informed them that the Geth had a backup system that restored their programs after their platforms were damaged, so by tracking all known comm-buoys they might be able to find anomalies when comparing the data. It was a long shot, but it might be the method to cutting Saren off from his synthetic army.

Shepard had just released the catches on his gauntlets, when Joker radioed down again.  
"Uhh, Commander, you might want to put back on whatever gear you've just taken off. We're receiving a Sigma-5 distress call. It's being routed through the systems on the _Fedele_. The message came online just a minute ago." Shepard sighed, and began putting his gauntlets back on. He motioned to Garrus, who did the same, then put his helmet back on and sent a message via comms.  
"Ground team, report to the hangar in 5. We're receiving a distress call from the planet below." Suit up for full contamination protocols. Appears to be a Class 5 bio-hazard threat."  
"Joker, forward the distress call to my suit. I want to hear what they have to say." Sigma-5 was System's Alliance hailing codes that indicated a highly specific threat, and often came with recorded video or audio.  
The audio file came through to his HUD, and he motioned with his omni-tool to play the recording. He noticed the mnemonic seemed a little sluggish - and frowned as a crackling, breathless voice came on over the speakers in his helmet.  
"Alliance ship, this is Dr. Arik Alverson, Consider this my confession. There's a... Thing, that we've been cultivating on the planet. Feeding. Feeding people, prisoners, lowlifes. I.." There was a deep intake of breath. "I don't ask." A pause. "My conscience can no longer allow these atrocities to continue - Land at the coordinates indicated. Bring weapons, and fully sealed decontamination suits. My colleagues will not come quietly, and they have a significant security force. I will likely be dead by the time you receive this message. May God have mercy on my soul." There was a crackle of static, then the message ended." Shepard mused that the origin must have been in a deeply buried base to generate that much interference. He frowned to himself as his ground team rushed into the hangar and began suiting up, checking out and clearing weapons. All save Tali, who carefully removed and folded her veil, snapped some custom-made armor on over over environmental suit, and then began going over her Shotgun.  
"Tali, looks like we'll be bunker-busting." She gave him a blank look, and he quickly explained the idiom. "Make sure and be ready to hack hardened and shielded networks. I expect we'll need all the evidence we can get." the quarian nodded, looked hesitant for a second, then nodded again.  
"Can do, Shepard."

The Commander quickly briefed his team, explaining the vital points of the distress signal, and the suspected routes of attack.  
"Williams, you'll land with squad one east of the landing zone." Shepard indicated roughly one half of the Normandy's small marine detachment. "Take out their defenses as you approach. You'll rendezvous with Alenko and squad two, who will approach form the west. Once you've secured the LZ, the auxilliaries and I will drop in and clear the bunker proper. Dig in and hold until we return, or an hour has passed. Send in half of squads one and two in that eventuality. Are you tracking?" Kaidan and Ashley saluted, and began issuing orders to their men.  
"Commander, if they are taking the Makos, how will we get groundside?" Liara asked. Her breathing was even, and she asked with a sort of empty curiosity. Shepard listened slightly, and realized her breathing was slightly too even. He smiled slightly, in his helmet. Asari meditation techniques. He thought he recognized the pattern.  
"We'll be taking the drop pods." He said, purposely keeping his voice blank. Liara cocked her head to one side, confused. Garrus let out a low bark of laughter.  
"They're basically metal boxes with small eezo cores in them. The ship jettisons them, and then, 5 seconds to impact, the cores kick in and neutralize the velocity, and the impact forces them open." Ashley, who was walking by to take a grenade launcher from the armory, chipped in.  
" _Element Zero High Speed High Impact Transport System._ " She gave Liara an evil grin. "0H SHITS" For short."  
"Gave General Orinia a hell of a time during the relay 314 incident." Garrus said. "Human insanity, launching yourself at the ground from orbit." Shepard grinned, and gave Garrus a slap on the back.  
"And now you'll get to experience the thrill first hand!"  
"Goddess." Liara said. Her breathing had hitched. Shepard put a hand on her shoulder.  
"Peace Liara. Focus. _Evelaius ven moreth iradus."_ She looked sharply at Shepard, an intensely curious look in her eyes.  
"That was not in your file." She said, then covered her mouth. And then dropped her hands, resigned to her slip-up. Shepard waggled his eyebrows.  
"Drop point A in 30 Commander." Joker's voice echoed through the hangar.

* * *

The marines took the perimeter with practiced ease, cutting through the AA guns with practiced motions. They had begun entrenching and repurposing the defenses for a close-quarters assault from the outside, when 5 drop pods screamed out of the sky, the wind whistling around them strangely off-put by the blue corona that surrounded them. They landed with a bone-jarring thud, the walls unfolding with a graceless clank. Garrus, Liara and Tali staggered out. Garrus swore.  
"Spirits above and below." Shepard didn't have the grace to look staggered, and jaunted out of his capsule, meeting Ashley and Kaidan at the drop point.  
"Commander, There was a shuttle already here when we landed. Looks like the occupants took out most of the resistance. We just cleaned up after them." She motioned to the now-defunct GARDIAN turrets on either side of the circular bunker.  
"I took the liberty of forming the defenses to face either way, Commander." Kaidan said, motioning to a short berm and barrier the marines had dug into the loose soil of the world.  
"Good thinking Lieutenant. Hold here. I'll keep in radio contact as long as I can." Shepard saluted, and then jogged off to meet his insertion team, who were finished finding their balance again.  
"Tali, can you get us in?" The quarian was bent over the entrance console of the bunker, her omni-tool out.  
"Negative Commander. There's no emergency override I can get to." Shepard could hear the frown in her voice. "Which seems unnecessarily dangerous. What if the power fails?"  
"Right, stand back. Wrex, Liara, lets go." The krogan and the asari fell in line next to him, as Tali rushed back behind barrier Kaidan's marines had built. One by one, blue coronas began to appear, first around Liara, then around Wrex, then Shepard, leaving a trio of mismatched silhouettes against the thunderheads on the horizon. Wrex moved first, thrusting a hand out. Blue fire slammed into the reinforced blast doors. Terrible groans came from the still-resisting metal, as gravity itself worked against the door. Shepard moved next, thrusting his own hand out. The screeching sound doubled, the gravitational forces swimming and shifting. The air-conditioners in Shepard's SpecTRe armor worked overtime as sweat began coalescing on him. Liara took one deep breath, then gave a terse step forward. A massive wall of biotic force, ten feet high, sprang from her splayed fingertips, and traveled forward, shearing off a layer of topsoil, in impacting against both Wrex's and Shepard's fields. Gravity spun for an instant. Tali and Garrus looked at each other in awe as they became momentarily weightless, then there was a massive explosion as the fields collapsed on each other. The door shattered inward, spraying fragments of white-hot, over-stressed metal down the long hallway on the other side.

"And that's why we don't antagonize the aliens, Johnson." Kaidan said to the marine next to him, who was gazing wide-eyed down the dark corridor that had suddenly opened in the bunker. Johnson nodded, still staring.

Shepard's strike team moved quickly down the corridor, carefully stepping around the bigger shards of metal. The light attachments to their guns shone, illuminating a bare corridor. They moved deeper in the base, carefully swinging around crew lockers and server banks. Tali waved her omni-tool over the latter, but shook her head. VI banks for the ancillary systems, apparently.

They found the first bodies in the next room. Men and women in lab clothes lay spread-eagled, faces mangled by gunshot wounds and what looked like slash-marks. there were four bodies. One lay in the middle of the room, a massive pool of blood beneath him, and frenzied slash marks up and down his back. Three were off to the side, bullet wounds in their head.  
"These three were killed later." Garrus said, scanning the room. "and this one," Garrus squatted down by the most prominent corpse. "Is that acid scarring?"  
"Shepard." Wrex rumbled, from his place by the door.  
"Wrex?" Shepard moved towards him, keeping his movements quiet. Wrex motioned to the pulpy mess in front of him, and Shepard swore to himself, a curious mix of asari and english profanity.  
"Wrex just found the remains of a Thorian Creeper." he announced over their comm channel. The team shifted nervously, and Garrus switched to his assault rifle.  
"That would explain him." Garrus gestured at the dead scientist, taking the time to ID him. He motioned with his other hand to the exectued scientists. "But not them."  
"Treachery?" Tali asked, morbidly drawn to the scene.  
"Perhaps the people who came in the shuttle Chief Williams found were not friendly to the researchers here." Liara said, her voice surprisingly even.  
"A liquidation team." Shepard said, an ominous feeling beginning to fill his gut. "Lets move. We need to figure out what's going on here, before the other team erases the data."

They moved down the next hallway, travelling as quickly as they could without leaving themselves exposed. Long splashes of acid scarring began appearing on the walls and furniture, unrecognizably pulped plant-matter often accompanying them. Shepard's mismatched strike team moved fluidly past the living quarters, a single omni-tool scan confirming neither life nor tech rested within. There were long, dragging blood trails from the doorway that they, as a whole, decided not to comment on. The mess-hall, their next stop further into the bunker, showed similar signs. The tables had all been overturned, with blood pooling behind two, and acid and bullet holes reducing two more into so much mangled slag. The flashlights waved over the gruesome scene and then moved on, further down the empty hallway, every step amplified by the metal floors and once-sterile atmosphere.

"Intersection ahead Commander." Garrus said, moving his rifle to better see their choices. Shepard stared at the darkness, when there came a flash from the left - gunfire. Shepard motioned to his team, and they hurried down the hallway, covering for them. The sterile corridor opened up into a massive chamber, as they passed through the remains of what appeared to be an air-lock, into a natural cavern. Liara took a sharp breath.  
"Shepard! This stonework..."  
"Take a scan and tell me later." Shepard said, staring into the gloom. A very sick feeling had settled in the pit of his stomach. They fanned out, and noticed that the Thorian Creepers had been particularly dense here. Each step crunched into the shattered and pulpy plant matter that made the copies animate. Shepard, now taking point, swept his gun across his field of view, and stopped when the light highlighted against bright armor.  
"Contact!" His team crouched into defensive positions. Shepard kept his light on the soldier in front of him. The man, who was in a white hardsuit with black and gold trim, turned slowly to face them. His helmet was off, and a large gash ran down one side of his armor, what must have initially exposed him to the air. In the stark light of the omni-light on Shepard's gun, the tinted green that had suffused the blood vessels in his eyes took on a black hue. The man stumbled forward, his short blond hair flashing silver. He moaned, a long, tortured sound, then picked up speed. A voice, from everywhere and no where, responded to the cues of his mouth, shaking the world with invisible force.  
" ** _treachery and destruction, oath-breakers and murderers! elder-killers and invaders!_** " Shepard and Liara recoiled in horror, as a vast, alien force attempted to intrude on their minds, the weight of its rage and mere presence staggering. Wrex and Garrus coolly fired into the staggering human, and he went down, with a spurt of entirely too brackish blood. Shepard righted himself from the unintentional cower he was in, and grunted.  
"There's another Thorian here." Liara gulped and nodded. Tali and Garrus looked at each other, worry reflected in each's eyes. Wrex gave an uneasy grunt, and unshipped his shotgun.  
"Let's move." Shepard said, and they proceeded deeper into the subterranean ruin.

They moved tightly, all their nerves jangling with every moving shadow, the possibility of a single suit breach a horror none wanted to face. The liquidation team ahead of them seemed to have torn through several waves of the creepers, all human in appearance. Shepard grimly wondered where the Thorian had gotten it's models, thought back to the cryptic message Dr. Alverson had left, and grimaced.  
"Contact!" Tali yelled, and the team responded quickly, a hail of fire taking out the creepers that jumped out of the shadows. They moved on cautiously, as the cavern they were in began to open up, stalactites hardened and covered in a sickly green substance now reaching down from the ceiling towards them. They came to a precipice. Half-illuminated in the darkness before them was a massive, pulsating form, saliva or some such plant analogue dripping from the massive opening near the bottom, thick, cottony green-yellow spores floating on unseen and unfelt currents of air in the massive cylindrical cavern. The slavering intensified. Recognizing the signs, Shepard's team tightened their aim on the mouth. A naked female form dropped out of the mouth, immodesty removed by the smooth green plant matter that merely mocked its form. It was bald. Shepard suspected human hair was considered a waste to mimic. He kept his rifle trained on the figure as it approached.  
" _ **you have been touched by one of my kind."**_ the clone said, pointing to Liara and Shepard with two fingers from one upraised hand. Shepard stepped forward warily, keeping his gun steady.  
"Yes."  
" ** _the pangs of his passing reached me."_** the clone spoke quietly, for a voice that seemed to bypass volume. Shepard said nothing.  
" ** _invaders have come."_** the Thorian in front of them illuminated itself with an eerie bioluminescence, showing the leaking marks that crisscrossed its body, and the neural nodes attached to the walls that were held by a mere threads.  
" _ **Kill."**_ the clone spoke, its voice even. " _ **and you will be rewarded."**_  
"Rewarded how?" Shepard asked. The green clone finally put down its hand, and turned to face the Thorian, its hands behind its back - a very human gesture.  
" ** _we see the cycles. the rise and fall of technologies."_** the clone turned back to the fireteam. " ** _we fed on them all, and more"_** the clone took a step closer. " _ **we know what they know, technology of the protheans, the innusannon, and even our own secrets. we offer a shortcut for your cycle."**_  
"And in return?"  
 _ **"Feed us. Give us meat, your secrets. Fill us and clean us, and you will triumph over the cycles.**_ "  
"A shortcut." Shepard said. It wasn't a question.  
" ** _you fumble in ignorance. I can guide you. You know the threat you face already. You have seen the fesh'arish"_** It wasn't a question. Shepard intuited the word, one with much more complexity than the prothean "reaper"  
" ** _We will guide you."_** The clone smiled triumphantly, its green teeth bared in a ghastly imitation of the real thing. " _ **A shorter path than all others have followed.**_ "  
Shepard was silent for a long moment, staring not at the human copy before him, but at the ghastly plant behind it. His hands tightened on his rifle, and he spat,  
"There are no shortcuts." He signaled to Wrex and Liara. They moved fluidly, signing their mnemonics. A massive, three-headed wave of blue sprung from their position tearing into the stonework of the cavern, and throwing the green human copy into the pulsating body of the Thorian. It screamed as the wave of biotic energy collided into it, and the fields interacted, detonating with extreme force, causing the suspended column of plant matter to sway, straining. There was a snap, and one of the neural nodes on the wall sagged. A thunderous report, as two more followed suit. The Thorian remained suspended by a thread. Creepers began filing in from the many shadows of the cave, moaning and creaking.

" _ **DIE**_ " the word reverberated around the cavern, taken up on the gruesome lips of every creeper, every human mimic. A final, earsplitting snap, and the already damaged Thorian lost all hold on the walls, plummeting into the cavern below, exploding great yellow juices across the walls as its own weight crushed it.  
"MOVE!" Shepard yelled, and their team beat a hasty retreat from the cavern lip, the enraged and now mindless creepers tearing after them. Acid vomit splattered at their heels as they moved deeper into the complex, passing the remains of another airlock, into a wide room with massive server banks. Shepard and Liara quickly shoved the lockers and furniture in the narrow doorway, creating a makeshift barricade.

Shepard saw a light quickly extinguish, and the quick flash of white armor exiting the room. He swore.  
"Garrus, Wrex, Liara, can you hold the horde here? Our competition is headed toward the command center, and we need to head them off."  
"Not for long!" Garrus said, throwing down a crate, and setting his assault rifle atop it. Shepard hesitated, but then handed him his entire bandolier of grenades. Garrus grunted his thanks, and then set about having Liara fortify their barricade. Tali looked to Shepard, who motioned, and they took off after the unknown soldier. They sprinted up a curved ramp, Shepard charging his own biotic barrier as they did. They entered a doorway, and slid under the first bank of controls they saw, two shots pinging over their heads. Shepard gave a terse series of hand signals to Tali, who nodded and primed her omnitool. Shepard stood and fired his pistol, the shots blocked by the liquidation team's barriers. But it caught their attention, as Tali rolled from underneath the console to the main interface, her hands flying as the hard-light of her omni-tool carved brilliant patterns in the darkness.  
There was another gunshot and a recoiling gasp of horror from the other side of the room.  
"Stop." A calm female voice said. Shepard glanced around the computer bank he'd hidden behind, and saw a scientist slumped to the floor, a neat bullet-hole in his forehead.  
"Order your quarian to stop, or I'll move to the next." Tali looked to Shepard, her eyes wide. He nodded, and she slowly closed her omni-tool and shipped her shotgun.  
"Shepard! We're stuck in a crossfire!" Garrus' voice pinged in his helmet. "The soldiers came out of nowhere. They've got us pinned!" Shepard sent a quick notification to Wrex. Garrus' voice came back over the comms.  
"We've lost Wrex! He's gone charging off somewhere. We can't hold Shepard!" Shepard slowly turned to stare at the woman across the room. She was tall, with her white and gold armor fitting neatly to a perfectly proportioned form. She held a gun to the next scientist's head. Shepard's HUD pinged the scientist as Alverson. He holstered his gun.  
"As your fireteam has no doubt told you, we've got you pinned. You have two choices." Her voice seemed almost manicured, cut and polished so the slight accent gave color to the words, rather than obscuring them. "You order your quarian to continue with that data download, and probably kill us. I'll order my men to fire on the scientists, and your men downstairs will most certainly perish under the wave of Creepers and fire from my own squad."  
"Or?" Shepard ground out, fists clenched. The remaining scientists were staring at him piteously, shock and horror etched on their faces. He couldn't see the woman's face, but he could hear the smirk on it.  
"Or we effect a small truce. You allow me to access and wipe the data on those servers, and get custody of these gibbering fools." She motioned her pistol at the unshielded and unprotected scientists. "and my men downstairs help propel the wave of Thorian Creepers."  
A voice came over comms. Liara, sounding desperate, hurt. "Shepard! Do you read me Shepard?!" Shepard looked up. Tali was staring at him, her eyes still wide. She shook her head slightly. Shepard wasn't sure what that meant, but he stared hard at the woman across the room.  
"Truce." He said hoarsely. The woman nodded, and shipped her pistol. She put her hand to her ear, and said something into her helmet. Shepard did the same.  
"Garrus, Liara, do not fire on the" he glanced up at his opponents. "Soldiers. The should momentarily back you up. A.." Shepard hated the sound of his voice as he said the next words. "Truce has been effected. Standby for further instruction." There was a long pause before Garrus replied, sounding uneasy.  
"Copy that." Shepard typed another quick message into his omni-tool.  
"There, that wasn't hard, was it?" The woman in white armor stalked up to the main computer, and Tali hesitantly moved aside, moving uncertainly to Shepard's side.  
"Shepard! Do you read me?" Ashley's voice sounded suddenly over their comms.  
"What's your status, Chief?" He asked.  
"That shuttle is warming its engines. It's in some kind of auto-pilot! Permission to slag it?" Shepard gritted his teeth.  
"Denied. Let it go, Chief."  
"Commander?" Kaidan's voice sounded over the same channel, inquisitive.  
"I'll fill you in later."  
A smooth, VI voice echoed over the dimly screen-lit command center. "Data purge initiated." Tali started, and Shepard put a hand on her shoulder. Their opposition rounded up the hostages, and the infuriating woman smoothly walked over.  
"Follow me, an I'll release the hostages into your custody once my transport arrives." The white-armored soldiers prodded the scientists with their Mattock Rifles, herding them down a small hallway that led to another set of blast doors. The woman waved her wrist over a pad, and the light turned green. There was a rush as the system tried to work as an airlock, then the blast doors opened into the dusk light. They were on a broad platform on what had to be the other side of the mountain. A white and black shuttle winked into view, thrusters firing as it leveled itself and then landed gracelessly on the platform. The woman motioned to the soldiers, and they jogged to the shuttle, the gull wing door opening. They moved inside.  
"That's the last of them Shepard." Garrus said over comms.  
"Head my way, with the.. Support." Shepard ordered.  
"... Affirmative." Garrus said.  
" _Bosh'tets_ " Tali muttered next to him, glaring at the woman who was staring at the pair of them.  
"So you're Commander Shepard." The woman finally said. Shepard gave her a look, then his face slid into a mask of politeness.  
"You have me at a disadvantage, Miss...?" There was a half-second's silence, then she said,  
"Solheim. Alexis Solheim" Shepard was about to go through the formalities, when the rest of Solheim's troops entered the fading sunlight on the shuttle platform, marching in good order, their guns shipped. Liara and Garrus followed behind, looking ragged and spattered with plant gore.

The soldiers filed into the shuttle. Solheim stood on the doorway and turned back.  
"It was nice doing business with you, Commander." She said, that infuriating smirk in her voice. There was a sudden roar, and Wrex charged out onto the platform, shotgun flailing, appearing for all the world to be in an incoherent blood-rage.  
"Krogan! Get back!" Shepard roared, putting a biotic barrier between himself, his team and the scientists, as Wrex charged the shuttle. As it was taking off, he leveled his shotgun and fired wildly, his shots clipping off of the armor of the shuttle. The Kinetic barriers came online, and flickered as the shotgun blasts peppered it. It zoomed off into the sunset, otherwise unscathed. Shepard dropped his barrier.  
"What the hell was that Wrex?" Garrus had a wild look in his eye, and was leaned forward aggressively, his mandibles trembling in rage. Wrex grunted.  
"Theater."  
"What did you manage to get?" Shepard asked, approaching the krogan. He turned to face the SpecTRe, his red eye showing a the shadow of mirth.  
"Put one of the Shadow Broker's toys on their shuttle. We'll know where it ends up." Shepard sighed, and turned to Tali.  
"Did you manage to save anything from their computers?" Tali looked down, and began wringing her hands.  
"No. They were too quick, and the data purge would have cleared anything left." She looked up at him. "I'm sorry Shepard." Shepard put a hand on her shoulder again, staring directly into the silver points of her eyes.  
"Don't be. You did great." He walked over to Liara and Garrus, and thanked them both, Garrus grunted, and gave him a strange look, before sitting. Shepard recalled Ashely and Kaidan's teams, having them send a pick-up to their coordinates. As he did so, one of the scientists collapsed onto the platform, exhaustion and exposure to the Thorian spores overwhelming his system.

* * *

The next hour passed in a blur, rushing the scientists to the med-bay, which had to set up quarantine procedures to deal with the scientists. Their prognosis wasn't great. A good chance of severe brain damage, and all would likely face impairment in immune and motor functions. He debriefed the team on the full situation, how they'd managed to get caught by Solheim's team, and the resulting carnage. The additional Thorian, and hints that there might be others. How their only lead was a shadow-broker tracker that Wrex had put on their shuttle, and the strange, hexagonal symbol painted in the Command room.

Then he had to debrief the council, who were furious that humans had managed to get themselves tangled in amoral testing with not one, but two ancient carnivorous plants. Shepard maintained his unfailingly polite facade, though he seethed with ever snide insinuation Sparatus made, and the indirect manipulation Tevos was trying on him. Valern had remained surprisingly quiet, though Shepard was too tired to speculate much on why. He made his recommendations, then severed the comm link. He sat in the chair in front of the holo-pad, head in his hands. He had failed. He sighed, and stood.  
"Connect me to SAIS-1, command code _Sol sylarannus evoris._ The asari phrase was nonsense, but that was one more level of security. A tone droned for 5 seconds, then a bright VI appeared, doubly distorted due to distance and transmission.  
"Please state your business." It said.  
"Connect me to Major Daniels please. Transmission code _Barbarus viatori patuit._  
"Connecting."  
A rich voice, thick with a southern accent carried over the link. "Alexander Shepard! How the hell are you?" the holo-stand fuzzed for a second, and then clarified, showing a huge black man sitting behind a desk, dressed in full regalia. "Not forgetting us little guys as you move on to bigger ponds, are ya?" Shepard grinned at his former mentor, the man's irrepressible cheerfulness managing to reach him even in his foul mood.  
"I don't think you're small-time by even your own skewed scale, Clive." Shepard said.  
"Bah. They couldn't find anyone else crazy enough for the job." The major leaned back in his chair, and grinned cheekily at Shepard.  
"What can I do ya for?" He asked easily.  
"500 credits and a spot in the Thessia Embassy." Shepard answered, grinning.  
"Shit, Shepard, your price has gone down. Council running you that ragged?" Shepard shook his head in admiration, seeing the touch of a master at work. Clive Daniels had been one of the System Alliance's most effective intelligence officers, his easygoing manner and sense of humor making him seem instinctually trustworthy, to aliens and humans alike.  
"SpecTRe business, Clive. You know I can't talk about that." Shepard said. The major grinned shamelessly, and leaned forward expectantly. Shepard shook his head in mock disgust, and then came around to why he'd called.  
"I wanted you to run a name, and tell me anything you know about the organization behind this symbol." Shepard pulled up one of the scans on his files, displaying a large, hexagonal symbol with two flanges, white and black and gold. The smile on Major Daniels' face froze for a second, as he saw that symbol. He swore, and then asked,  
"Where did you find that?"  
"In a colonial research base holding a 50,000 year old sentient carnivorous plant." Shepard grimaced. "The second one I've run into, actually. The other was experimented on by ExoGeni." The major had turned grim, and pulled up his own omni-tool, and began taking notes. Shepard fed him all the information that he was allowed, relating the story of the distress signal, the base, and feeding him Solheim's name. There was several seconds of silence, as the Major input things into the Alliance database. Finally, he sighed, running a hand over his face, and looked at Shepard.  
"That symbol and base you found belonged to Cerberus. They were an Alliance black-ops group founded around the time of the First Contact War. They were a vengeance protocol, in short. Meant to be self-sufficient and self-sustaining, they would rain down guerrilla hell on alien installations should we be subjugated to the Turians. After the Shanxi Accords, they were told to disband. Instead, all the operatives went dark, disappeared. We've been chasing them for decades, but they've been acting more like a hydra than a three-headed dog. I'll send you the history." Major Daniels' omni-tool pinged as the file was sent over secure channels to the Normandy. Shepard didn't ask how the man knew the ships secure transceiver frequency.  
"As for Solheim, She's dead. Was an attaché for Admiral Lindholm for awhile, and is noted for having improved the organization of the Rapid Response Units, and securing funding for a fueling station in the Traverse. She received posthumous commendations for fending off a Batarian suicide squad that attempted to crash a cruiser into Arcturus." Major Daniels frowned as he connected the dots. "Senate voted for increasing the number of destroyers and cruisers in the fleet soon after. If she is or was connected to Cerberus, that raises some disturbing questions."  
Shepard sighed again. "It's never good news, is it?" Daniels laughed.  
"Still young and idealistic I see." he said, smile returning.  
"Wide-eyed and bushy-tailed, sir." Shepard gave a mock salute. Daniels acknowledged it lightly, smiled, and steepled his fingers.  
"I'm not sure if I should be thanking you for all the new work you've given me, but I have a suggestion on your own hunt." He opened his omni-tool, and sent another file.  
"Matriarch Benezia has discreetly been buying controlling shares in several human companies for the last decade. At least three of the ones traceable to her are based on Noveria." he held up one long finger. "Now, Noveria is having a planet-wide conference for the shareholders in Port Hanshan in a week's time. Typical ass-kissing corporate event. But-"  
"Asari matriarchs do like having their asses kissed." Shepard finished for him, shaking his head. Daniels just gave him another crooked grin, and then gave some more advice.  
"You know how corporate types get around known government agents. Best go undercover. I reckon you won't find Benezia herself, but you might just find a trail to her." Daniels opened his omni-tool one more time. "I can send you and two others cover stories and credentials from one of my contacts at Binary Helix."  
"Thanks Clive, I owe you one." the Major shook his head, a bit of fatigue now showing.  
"No need, Alex. You've given me more on Cerberus in an hour than we've managed in the past 5 years. I'm starting to see why Udina pushed so hard for a SpecTRe candidate." He shook his head, then gave a light salute to Shepard. "Good luck and Godspeed, son."  
"Godspeed, Clive." Shepard answer, raising his hand into a salute. The connection ended, and the VI's ethereal voice floated from the port.  
"Logging you off, Commander." Shepard put his head in his hands, enjoying the little minute of silence he had. He sighed, and then stood.  
"Joker, set course for Noveria."  
"Aye aye, Commander."


	10. Chapter 10 - Pieces Past

The lights in the Captain's cabin were shuttered, the steady blink of Shepard's console the only true light - a tiny flash illuminating the writhing form in the blankets in intervals.

The beacon was impressing itself on the Commander, twisting in and out of his dreams, tying itself to the scenes of his life, his memories forfeit before the insistent voice, images and _feelings_ of the Prothean's last message. The Cipher just made it comprehensible.

Corpses littered the area, beings twisted and tubed like the Husks, with sloped heads, four glowing blue eyes, now faded, and surrounded by a pool of too-dark blood. Shepard somehow knew it was full of expended nanites.

 _I am Vijori, the last Oracle -_

the image shifted, and spun, screams of rage turning into batarian battle-whoops, as the scene folded into view, paused, and rewound. _Elysium_.

Petty Officer Alexander Shepard stood sharp behind his charge, Chief Diplomat Kenneth Zimbardo, who was doing his best to ooze charisma. The diplomats were on Elysium to renegotiate the terms in the Arcturus Accords, which set the agreed upon limits to dreadnoughts and naval size after the First Contact War. A council-appointed Asari, Turian and Salarian observer were present. Officially, Shepard was a diplomatic attaché, sent to organize and prepare the diplomat's information briefings as it pertained to military holdings and objectives in the talks. Unofficially, this was Shepard's first and last time in the field as an SAIS officer, sent to determine the attitudes and objectives of the other races beyond their polite veneers, and establish contacts within their respective governments. Major Daniels was supposed to be overseeing this operation, but he'd been pulled at the last minute. Something about a situation evolving on Akuze.

"As you can see, Elysium's strategic location and stringent defenses against raids from the Terminus make it a shining example of the lengths humanity is willing to go to protect itself and our alien partners." Zimbardo waxed eloquent, taking the observers around the capitol building, a shining edifice in the Greek style, made from the peculiarly blue marble-analogue found on Elysium. They stood on a balcony, looking out over the developing metropolis in the valley below, sipping a renowned vintage from one of Elysium's famed grottos - peculiar alpine formations which funneled sediment into otherwise closed caves.  
"Humanity moved far from its sudden and violent emergence onto the galactic scene." The asari diplomat, all grace and blue curves, gave a nod to Zimbardo. Shepard frowned. The diplomat's subtle body language made it clear to their own attachés that she wasn't impressed. The unpleasant memory of his exit from Thessia flitted briefly through his mind. Alexander stepped forward to introduce himself to the asari attachés, when the vicious screech of klaxons began reverberating throughout the mountain corridor. The loudspeaker began sending a repeated message down the echoey marble hallways.  
"We are under attack. Please congregate at your assigned bunker."  
The asari diplomat shot a furious look at the ambassador, who opened his mouth to respond. Shepard, acting coolly, stepped forward, and said,  
"I'm sorry your stay on Elysium has been ruined, Ma'am. Rendezvous with the others while the Alliance sorts this out. We'll be in contact." Before she could protest, he'd walked forward, grabbed her by the arm, and started ushering the startled diplomats down the hallway deeper into the mountain.

He'd gotten them halfway, when his radio buzzed.  
"Shit! They've disabled the automated defenses. Calling all forces, prepare for - Shit!"

There was a shattering boom that shook the mountains, the force echoed and amplified by the valley walls. Shepard swore. That would have been the garrison at Gibraltar station. He turned as he heard the _hiss-click_ of phaeston rifles unshipping. The turian diplomat's armed guards stood before him, some dozen turians, all in their blessedly functional ceremonial armor.  
"The Elysium defense network says you're now the ranking member of the Alliance on the colony. We're at your command."

Shepard froze, his mind blank. The garrison had been wiped. It was just him, who wore the uniform as a front. Who's training had been on intel more than command. Who's battle-training to this point had mostly come from asari. His training kicked back in, the phrase that was pounded into the skulls of the men and women in the Systems Alliance Intelligence Services roaring through the sudden emptiness. _Live. The. Lie._

He gave a full parade salute, drawing his saber and all. It was what his cover would do - to honor the choice of these Turians. They seemed to stand straighter from the gesture, and saluted back.  
"How many turians still fit for service live on Elysium?" Shepard asked, words returning to him. One of the guard opened his omni-tool, and pulled up a page.  
"140, sir." Shepard grimaced.  
"Contact them, any way you can. The entire garrison was destroyed in that blast. We're going to need every man and woman we can get." He began walking toward the armory, and they fell in behind him. "Our first objective is to get comms back online - "

The beacon reasserted itself over Shepard's dreams, tearing screams and gore-soaked images of the Prothean extinction flashing through in rapid array - A great station, the lynchpin of the empire, white steel drenched in the too-dark blood and corpses. Forced conversion, the searing pain of angry nanites tunneling and converting cells through skin, the hopeless, crushing and living rage, a well of anger and loss deeper and wider than the rift at Klendagon.

 _I am Vijori, the last Oracle -_

* * *

Shepard woke to Chakwas gently shaking him. He yelped and twisted, leg already lashing out, his fist glowing with biotic power. Chakwas snorted and stepped smartly backwards, dodging Shepard's sweep. He righted himself, reality slowly reasserting itself. He glanced up at the good doctor and apologized.  
"Chakwas! I - Sorry." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Chakwas raised an eyebrow, her eyes sparkling with a little amusement even as her brow crinkled in worry.  
"That's quite alright, Commander. No harm done anyhow. I've had to wake more than one twitchy soldier in my time." She opened her omni-tool, moving back to her businesslike manner. "What brought me here though, was the medical alert scans that went off while you were sleeping.  
"You have medical scanning equipment in my quarters?" Chakwas nodded.  
"It's standard issue in most turian vessels - to make enable quick response to medical emergencies their leaders may suffer. I must say I quite approve." She said, giving him a reproving look. "your brain activity was spiking nearly as high as it did right after your run in with the beacon, and your heart was beginning to palpitate. A symptom of a severe PTSD flashback." Her omni-tool glowed in the semi-darkness of his cabin as she scrutinized the commander closely. "Given your past, you have one of the most well-adjusted psychological profiles I've seen; no doubt thanks to your upbringing on Thessia. Is there something you're not sharing?" Shepard rubbed his eyes for a long second, working through mentally just how much Chakwas was allowed to know, how much she had access to. He looked back up at her, a grim smile touching his lips.  
"I made it to Elysium." She frowned at him.  
"You mentioned it helped when Dr. T'Soni to melded with you?" Shepard nodded warily. Chakwas opened her omni-tool and did some took some notes. There came a soft chime from the door, and Shepard glared at Chakwas for disturbing the asari in the middle of the night cycle. Chakwas motioned impatiently at him,  
"We're 94 hours out from Noveria, Commander. You've got time and need to be well rested." He sighed and unlocked the door.

The asari scientist entered, looking hesitant. The doctor smiled broadly, making welcoming motions.  
"Thank you for coming on such short notice Liara."  
"It is no trouble, doctor." Liara said self-consciously. Chakwas put her hands on her hips, and a faint smile touched the asari's lips. "It is nothing, Karin." she corrected. Shepard noted the exchange, bemused. He'd been trained extensively in asari body language before he'd ever left Thessia, and Liara's open posture was unusual for a race so schooled in controlling their motions. It was a relaxation shown only with very close friends. Shepard was glad the shy scientist was at least getting along with the humans in her immediate proximity. She'd been withdrawn, pursuing their mission with single-minded intent, and displaying fantastic levels of biotic power during their missions and training exercises and a serious aptitude for sussing out patterns in Saren's financial data and movements. When Shepard had come out of his conference with Major Daniels, she'd quickly found the links - a human company named called Binary Helix, several conglomerations of biologic / pharmaceutical and a banking chain that Saren and Benezia, or both, had shares in under pseudonyms.  
"Well?" Chakwas was staring at the pair of them, and Shepard felt an absurd urge to blush. He frowned slightly, and realized he didn't have his shirt on. He looked back up at Dr. Chakwas and held out a finger, quickly found a shirt, then had Liara sit next to him on the bed. He didn't want either of them falling badly and hitting the floor. He held out his hands, and Liara hesitantly put her own on top of his. The flash of shared information made them both stiffen. Shepard realized Liara had been sleeping worse than he had - the horrific images of the beacon tearing through her mind, looking for a place to rest. Because she hadn't Shepard's scars, nor time to cultivate her resilience, it was shredding her psyche. He gripped her hands tighter, reassuring.  
" _Embrace Eternity!"_

Joinings were always easier on repetition. The words hadn't been said out loud, but the siari mantra helped Liara in the process, and thus they echoed through the link. Shepard felt the sensations of his immediate surroundings fade, as he was pulled into the link, feeling the emotions that roiled within the asari. Fear. Guilt. A horrible certainty, brought into crystal clarity by her analytical, rigorous approach to finding the truth. Self-doubt.  
She would have to kill her mother. Because the alternative was far worse.

Shepard reached out through the link, sharing what comfort he could. The admiration the Normandy crew was steadily accruing for her. His own respect for her abilities and her determination. The information revealed to him the first time the peculiar side-effect of the Cipher - the slow-burning, intense flame that was her light.  
" _Liara Taeu-Soni*, you do not fight alone."_  
He felt the words reverberate in her mind, the clear bell of hope suddenly ringing in the turmoil. He felt the surge of her gratitude, and the quickly following curiosity, held at bay by another examination of the beacon's message. They puzzled at the gaps in the message, finding the cipher had left them with an instinctive understand of the title of this _Vijori_. The oracle was an _Avatara_ , one chosen by the Prothean empire for their dedication to a particular trait, elevated to a quasi-mythic status. The Oracle was beyond even that, the head and wisdom of the Council Avatara - the Hearer and Knower, the End-of-Counsel and the First Prothean. Her message would be beyond important, the last desperate directives to the dissolving Prothean Empire. And it yet eluded them.

As their shared minds came to this conclusion, Shepard felt a renewed pulse of curiosity from Liara, aimed at his own past - the memories that he relived. His reaction was instinctual, throwing up mental defenses violently and quickly, and with a cry of surprise and pain, Liara severed the link. Shepard came to, feeling Liara's hands begin to slide out of his own as she fell backward. He grabbed her, holding her aloft as she struggled to maintain consciousness. Her eyes became a deep royal blue as the rush of blood began to half-drain, and Chakwas rushed forward to hold the Asari's head, giving Shepard an alarmed and accusatory look. Liara took a deep breath and came to. She sat up and put her head in her hands, taking calming breaths. When she finally lifted her head, she turned to Shepard, her cheeks flush with shame.  
"Forgive me, Commander. I -" She took a breath. "I should not have let my curiosity get the better of me." Shepard gave her a hard look.  
"You ought to have asked." He eventually said. His voice softened, "But I will never punish simple curiosity." Shepard turned to Chakwas.  
"Thank you, Doctor. I have improved." Chakwas looked a bit put-out by her abrupt dismissal, but nodded and left.

Shepard turned back to Liara. "You had questions?" he asked gently. Liara nodded, still radiating embarrassment and shame.  
"Hey, remember when I asked you which file you'd read on me?" she nodded.  
"I have not found any additional files on Alliances databases." She turned her head in an expression Shepard couldn't quite catch, "But I did find a great deal of classified material on you I might not have otherwise." Shepard gave her a questioning look, intrigued.  
"What did you find?"  
"You are associated strongly with the Alliance's Intelligence services, though there is no direct link between you. You merely seem to... appear in situations described in the reports." Liara folded her hands on her lap. "It became easier to track your history after Elysium. They made it into quite the spectacle. Did you really lead troops into battle against batarian pirates with only a dress sword and pistol?" Shepard gave her a sidelong look.  
"I had half my armor on too. They blew the armory before I could get everything together. A... friend loaned me his sidearm." Liara gave him an incredulous look.  
"You are... remarkably strong willed. "I begin to understand why you were able to touch even the fragments of the message in the beacon and survive."  
"You might also search the asari networks for me as well." Shepard gave her a lopsided grin. "I would consider it a favor, as I know only that they have a file on me, not what it contains."  
Liara tilted her head lost in thought. "You've mentioned part of your upbringing on Thessia. How did you fit in? Did that influence your decision to join the Alliance military?" She got up and started pacing. "Shepard, you would be a fascinating subject for an in-depth study!" Her eyes were shining with that irrepressible curiosity. Shepard laughed.  
"I think you'll have to fight Chakwas for the autopsy rights. She has some theories about the side-effect from the Cipher." Liara's eyes widened in horror.  
"I did not mean to cause offense!" She stammered. "I only meant that your life would make for a groundbreaking anthropological study -" She put her head in her hands. "That is even worse isn't it? I am sorry. I was never very good at this. It is why I preferred to spend most of my time on remote digs."  
"And in the medical lab?" Shepard asked, probing. Liara nodded, raising her head slightly from her hands. "Relax, Liara. It was a joke." He tilted his head slightly, thinking. "If it would help, I have some books on human psychology and body language I can forward to you. I can also share what insight I have from the asari perspective."  
"I would be extremely grateful, Commander." Liara inclined her head respectfully, and Shepard briefly marveled that one of the scion's of Thessia's ancient houses was making such a gesture to him. He gestured at the desk chair, which Liara sat in, eagerly facing him.  
"To begin with, most humans aren't schooled in controlling their body language as a part of basic education..."

* * *

At the beginning of first shift - the nominal morning onboard - Shepard walked out of his cabin and visited the medbay. Chakwas was standing over the scientists they'd managed to save from Cerberus, looking only a little fatigued from the interruption of her sleep. She looked grim as she pulled up the files and made notes.  
"Whats the prognosis, Doctor?" She glanced at him, and read off of the chart,  
"They've suffered what looks to be damage from multiple concussions, two have broken bones, and one has a nasty cut running across his abdomen." She sighed. "But that's not the worrying bit. The spores the Thorian release have a neuro-degenerative effect, complicated by the allergic reaction to the planets naturally violent pollen. Physically, they'll be right as rain in a couple of days. But I don't know if they'll ever be able to tell us what they did down there, let alone testify against Cerberus." Shepard scowled.  
"It's never easy, is it?"  
"There are no shortcuts." the med-bay door hissed as Garrus entered. "Commander, did you have a minute?" Shepard nodded, and half-bowed to the doctor, thanking her. She nodded graciously, turning back to her patients. Garrus and Shepard left the medbay, heading toward the bustling Mess. Shepard stopped by a console, and had Joker adjust their itinerary to stop at an Alliance medical station on the way. Shepard also sent a line to SAIS, letting them know about the potential human intelligence, as well as the odds of it being retrievable.

"What's on your mind, Garrus?"  
"I was thinking about the other day." He began. Shepard rubbed the back of his neck, embarrased.  
"Yeah, sorry for, ah, kicking your face." Garrus gave the turian equivalent of a grin, and gave a conciliatory gesture.  
"It's been a long time since someone was able to put me on my ass. We'll have to spar sometime." Garrus sighed. "But I wanted to say that you were right. About all of it." He dipped his head. "I wasn't after justice. I let it warp into vengeance." He crossed his arms over his chest, an almost defensive posture. "You were right about the source of my desire vengeance too. I was angry he beat me, angry we got bogged down doing things by the book that we let him go. But there are no shortcuts."  
Shepard got a faraway look. "When you work above the law, or on the dark side of it, remaining just is more important than being efficient. Or you become that which you were tasked to destroy. It is a fine line that most people don't realize we walk. And one I had to have pounded into me."  
Garrus nodded. "Back groundside, when you were talking to that -" An almost imperceptible shudder ran through Garrus "the Thorian. How did you know the right thing was to refuse it?" He leaned forward, searching. "If what you've said about the Reapers is true, then we're going to need all the tech we can get." Shepard said nothing for a second, then sighed.  
"I didn't know if it was the right thing. I still don't. That may hurt us in the long run." He rubbed his eyes. "But Cerberus had sent a liquidation team. That means one of two things - One, their work was discovered and they wanted to cover their tracks. Given that the distress call was given literally 2 hours before we landed, that's unlikely. They might also not have been satisfied with their trade." Shepard raised his hands. "I don't know if it was because I'd peripherally touched the mind of a thorian via the Cipher, but I also felt a... smugness coming from it. It was beat and bleeding and dripping, its thralls had been chewed through twice, and it was _smug_." Shepard threw up his hands, and gave a wan smile. "But you'll never know for sure, really. You stick to the path in front of you, and pretend you're damned certain for your men." Shepard shook his head. "As to your question, there are sacrifices and there are shortcuts. But in our realm, the long shadow of the law - "  
"There are no real shortcuts." Garrus finished for him. Shepard nodded, and clapped him on the shoulder.  
"You're a good man, Vakarian." Garrus' mandibles flicked in dry amusement.  
"That's good, because I'm a terrible turian." Shepard laughed.  
"I mean it," He said, his mind flicking back to the preparatory turian language training he'd received as a part of his assignment to the _Normandy_. "Qioud vaos isprit pirobus _" [The spirit that guides you is pure]_. Garrus looked surprised, then humbled. He finally said dryly,  
"You got the tones all wrong, but I'll take it." Shepard rolled his eyes.  
"Those are a little difficult without the right anatomy, you know."  
"Excuses, excuses." Garrus drawled.

* * *

After their team had gone through more drills, Shepard had Wrex stay to talk with him, as he slowly put up his armor and stowed the weapons. He looked up at the silent krogan, wishing his brief SpecTRe training had covered more of krogan body language.  
"What did you put onto the Cerberus shuttle?" Shepard finally asked.  
"Tracker." The battlemaster rumbled. "Far as I can tell, it works by worming its way into the shield systems. Location data gets cycled into the actual output. Persists well after the physical device is removed. Undetectable until the signal pulse we designed for it has it send the info." He grunted. "Neat toy." Shepard nodded, thinking.  
"Given that it uses the Broker's information network, will I have to purchase information on the shuttle's location?" Wrex gave him a long look, his red eyes seeming to give off a constant baleful glow.  
"Wondered when we'd get to that." Wrex shrugged, "The Broker told me to consider this both a sale and purchase. You're giving him data, and using that data. No cost. He said to consider this the beginning of a 'mutually beneficial' relationship."  
"You have direct contact with the Broker?" Shepard asked, incredulous. Wrex motioned to a small device plugged into the massive power outlet usually reserved for charging the generators in artillery.  
"Close enough."  
"Not worried I'm going to try to bug it?"  
"You're honorable. And you know better." Shepard thought for a minute.  
"So, in return for full access to all of the toys available to you, all information from them is sent to the Broker. I can collect the information or start an 'account'?" Wrex grunted affirmatively.  
"If I want to buy more information off of the Broker network, I need to negotiate that separately? How am I going to do that?" Wrex gestured at the small black omni-box, which somehow managed to look menacing, even innocuously perched atop Wrex's locker. Shepard stared at it for a long moment, then turned to the hulking krogan.  
"Why are you here, Wrex?" Wrex stared at him, calculating. Shepard continued. "We both know you've got the brains, the guts, and the strength to be leading half or more of Tuchanka. You care deeply about your people, the fact that they're slowly dying because of the genophage eats at you. You work for the Broker because he gives you a target and you shoot it. This is neither simple, nor entirely solvable by shooting Saren and Benezia. A simple merc would have left a long time ago. There's quite literally not enough money to pay for putting up with everything we've had to." Shepard crossed his arms and leaned back, staring Wrex down. "Drop the act."

The staredown lasted for a full minute before Wrex let out a low chuckle.  
"You've one hell of a quad, Shepard." He snorted in amusement. "Nobody's been arrogant enough to talk to me like that since I was a splitplate. But I'll bite." He emphasized the human expression and smiled broadly, the long rows of his teeth layering menace atop the phrase. "I don't do causes. Let alone lost ones." He snorted in disgust. "My people have given up. They'd rather fight each other than save their own humps. They'd rather kill their own kin than change." He snarled, forcibly reminding Shepard of the previous talk they'd had on the subject. "What's left of Krogan honor is a twisted sham, used by the weak to prey on the weaker, in the name of thrice damned survival. My people are shells, Shepard. Trapped by our bodies, the one thing of value the galaxy sees in us. I'm not going to waste my energy because of some idealistic tripe from a human." Shepard bore the diatribe patiently.  
"That's why you're not on Tuchanka. Why are you here, if not for the cause?" Wrex stared at Shepard for a second, before looking past him and giving a curt nod to someone beyond. Shepard turned, and saw Tali walking up from Engineering, a shotgun cradled in her hands. She approached somewhat hesitantly, unsure if she was interrupting.  
"Call it faith." Wrex said, a tone Shepard couldn't quite decipher in his voice.

Shepard nodded, and excused himself, watching with a smile as Wrex went through some motions with Tali, showing her how to more effectively use the weapon.  
"Faith." He said to himself as the elevator doors closed. He stared at the bland steel doors, contemplative.

* * *

90 minutes out from Noveria, Shepard began to change into his disguise for the event. At this point, it was simple, a trim black suit and a pair of fake glasses, and a bit of make-up to make him appear older. He had just put the suit on when there was a chime from his door. He opened his omni-tool and unlocked the door. Ashley entered, looking tired, her fatigues a little rumpled. She held a datapad in her hand, and looked up with some surprise.  
"Looking sharp Commander." She grinned. "Those SpecTRe issue?"  
Shepard chuckled. "I wish. They'd probably double as skirmish armor and a stealth net if they were." He put in a cuff link - a momento from his SAIS days. They did actually double as a recording device, but he didn't say anything about that. " No, I'm doing this the old fashioned way, with charm and looks."  
Ashley tilted her head and gave him an appraising once over, before giving him an impish grin.  
"Right. Where are you getting those?" Shepard clutched at his heart, a look of mock hurt on his face.  
"You wound me!" He put in the other cuff link, giving the Chief a side-long grin. "Nah, Wrex volunteered his." She burst out laughing.  
"What did you need Chief?" Ashley, still chuckling slightly, handed him the datapad.  
"Finalize the transfer orders. The Alliance couldn't figure out how to label our little..."  
"Conglomerate?" Shepard supplied. Ashley nodded.  
"That works. Just need you to sign." Shepard nodded and waved his omni-tool, adding his authority to the datapad. She nodded her thanks, then added,  
"Kidding aside, nice suit skipper."  
"Thanks. They're much more comfortable than some of the dresses I've had to wear."  
Ashley's eyes went wide, and her eyebrows shot upward. "Commander?" she asked, somewhat warily. He gave a pained sigh.  
"One of the schools I went to on Thessia had uniforms." He grimaced. "And the matron refused to make concessions."  
"There wouldn't happen to be holos of this, would there?" Ashley said, tapping her chin thoughtfully, the mischievous smile playing about her lips.  
"You don't have enough blackmail on me Ash?" Shepard shook his head in mock reproof.  
"No such thing, skipper." She said cheerfully.  
"Ah, get out of here. I have to put my make up on." As Ashley gave him another look, he rolled his eyes. "That was a joke, Chief.  
She gave him a lazy salute, grinning. "Not my business what you do in your spare time, Skipper."  
"Yeah, yeah." He grumbled good-naturedly as she left.

When he had finished preparing himself, (finishing his disguise and concealing two knives and an extra omni-tool on his person) He called together his team, detailing their plan of action. He, Tali, and Kaidan would be going as guests to the party, ostensibly as representatives for Hahne-Kedar, one of the Alliance's major contractors. Officially, they were to seek out contacts and inquire about rates for a peak facility, for use in arms testing. Unofficially, they were going to pump the representatives for Binary Helix, the Sirta Foundation, and Elanus Risk Control for information on Benezia and Saren's investments, aims, and if possible, location. Other than that, they were to vet potential contacts in the corporate world, with an eye on pouring the foundation of an information network for Shepard. The marine contingent and the other members of the squad would wait at half-readiness for the call to deploy, as the Normandy stayed in stealth above Noveria. A Hahne-Kedar shuttle would pick up the ground team from outside Noveria's sensor range, and ferry them down. There were no questions, so Shepard dismissed them. Tali hung out after though, he arms crossed.  
"Shepard." She said, sounding upset.  
"What is it Tali?" He asked, curious. The quarian was usually happy to be a part of their missions.  
"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with my part of this mission." She took a deep breath. "I'm here because I started this. Because Saren is a threat." She looked down. "But I kind of ended up being the representative of the quarians here too." Her voice hardened. "And you're asking me to confirm the bigotry against quarians by pretending to _be_ exactly what everyone accuses us of being!" Shepard nodded.  
"If you want off the mission, I can switch you out if you'd like." He said, then held up a hand "And I understand where you're coming from. But I chose you for two reasons. Firstly, " Shepard gave a wry smile. "I need someone who can actually understand the inevitable tech-talk that will happen. Kaidan is good, but he doesn't have the depth of knowledge that you do." He inclined his head to her. "Secondly, people's racism against quarians is a useful bit of ignorance. They will see only what they expect to see, and that is an asset you cannot ignore." Shepard shrugged. "The people I'll be interacting with will be on their guard, expecting corporate espionage or brown-nosing for favors. But you? You'll be free to move about the support staff, who will be far more likely to gossip about an asari matriarch or disavowed SpecTRe passing through to an impressionable quarian on her pilgrimmage than the representatives will." Shepard smiled. "Tell you what, next time we do this I'll let you write your own cover. Deal?" He stretched out his hand. Tali hesitated a second, then took it.  
"I trust you Shepard. I'll do it. This time." Shepard inclined his head.  
"Thank you Tali. And hey, you never know. It might even be fun." He gave her a small wink and turned to go.

"Commander, the Alliance shuttle _Maverick_ is requesting permission to link."  
"Let 'em board, Joker."  
"Affirmative Commander." Shepard turned to Tali and gave an exaggerated sweeping bow.  
"Your chariot awaits."

* * *

 _A/N - Sorry! . Some of these conversations needed to happen, and it ah, grew in the telling. Noveria is next, I swear. Along with some character development for poor, neglected Kaidan._

 _*As for Liara Taeu-Soni, that's a little linguistic addition I made. The apostrophe's in asari names literally do not signify anything in cannon, which annoyed me. In Fallow, the Taeu/T' prefix on Asari names is a relic of asari history - an honorific given after the Warring Cities period to those families who defended Evalin Keep during the Siege of Armali. The siege held the title of the bloodiest battle in asari history until the Rachni Wars. When the city was finally breached, the defenders were slaughtered to a woman. The title was given to both honor those the families lost, and to honor the decision of each family NOT to seek vengeance for the deaths.  
It is often shortened to T' because the word contains a burr that is difficult for non-asari to pronounce correctly. _


	11. Chapter 11: Bashing Bureaucracy

The _Maverick_ dropped them at Port Hanshan, where the soiree would be hosted. The Corporate Council had spared no expense in displaying their wealth and power, with lush carpets, ice sculptures, open bars with every manner of consumable. Impeccably dressed servers, mostly human and turian, stood in the corners, easily noticeable and eminently polite. Also conveniently placed to watch the flow of the room, Shepard noted with some distaste. He'd have to be careful about entrances and exits. Elegantly dressed businesspeople floated from table to table, exchanging pleasantries, hidden threats, offers of alliance, and everything between. Yet despite the elegance and extravagance, Noveria's Corporate Council couldn't quite lose the weary feel of the sad concrete and cold that Shepard had caught a glimpse of as he and his team had walked in.

"I'm Security Chief Matsuo. Please come to me if you have any questions on security, or you see anyone breaching Corporate Council directives." The Asiatic security chief bowed to Shepard and his team, noting their mocked up visas and the small Alliance "A" that was prominently displayed on them.

"Please leave all sidearms and weaponry with the clerk." A surly looking blonde agent motioned to a bag check on the opposite side of the corridor. "This includes those with government permits." She said, giving a pointed look to Shepard. Shepard huffed, playing his role, and went over to the bag check, giving the gruff turian a frown as he passed it over.

"I don't make the rules sir." The turian said, unimpressed. Shepard patted himself down, checking. He still had his knives – bits of metal that would pass because they were so ancient. He had an omni-blade program on his omni-tool as well, but Kaidan had split and sequestered the more suspicious of their omni-tool data, and such things would have to be reconstructed past security. Shepard turned his head sharply when he heard a racket from the security booth.

"Trying to steal corporate secrets?" the irritable blond woman said, grabbing Tali by the shoulders and shaking her, her companion holding a crude wire-tap in his hand.

"No! no! I swear!" Tali said, her voice about an octave higher than normal, playing up the uncertainty and vulnerability.

"What would your boss say if he saw this, eh?" The blond lady said, shaking Tali again. She looked about.  
"Who's in charge of this vagrant?" She said. Shepard put on an oily face and walked over.

"That would be me. Is she causing trouble?" He asked, doing his best to look down his nose at everyone.

"Are you aware she was carrying an unauthorized recording device, sir?" The blond security agent had her own oily, polite mask on.

"Trying to steal human secrets to send back to the Migrant Fleet, are we?" Shepard asked Tali. He'd apologize later.

"No! We had an agreement!" She said, her voice getting strident. She was good at this, Shepard noticed. "I can represent myself to whoever would hire me, and in return give the Alliance's offer to the Fleet when I return! The recording device is just so I have a copy of any oral contracts!" Tali started wringing her hands. A nice touch, and one that would help with her real nervousness.

"You should have cleared it with me first." He said, sounding haughtily disappointed. "These things have rules, you know."

"I… I-" Tali looked heartbroken. "I know. I'm sorry."

"I think she's learned her lesson." Shepard said to the security. The security did not seem amused.

"If you say so sir."

"Check her and then send her in. I require her presence on the other side." He said, then strolled through the security barrier. The blonde agent was too busy grinding her teeth at his attitude and the struggling Quarian to pay too much attention to his security scans, which might have otherwise been worthy of a second glance.

Kaidan went next, apologizing for his compatriots to the security staff, who brushed him off. Then Liara, who said nothing, but looked fantastic in a dress she'd managed to pull from somewhere in her scant belongings. She merely raised a – Shepard looked closer. Had she painted on eyebrows with _viayun*_ paint? Curious. He filed that away for later inspection as the asari gracefully made her way through the checkpoint. She gave him a nervous nod, betraying her cover slightly, but took Kaidan's arm without an ounce of hesitation. The Lieutenant then betrayed _his_ cover by blushing slightly. Shepard fought hard not to put his head in his hands.

Once they had all been ushered through the security cordon, they made for one of the open tables, as per the plan. Kaidan would station himself at the table, coordinating and compiling all the intel they gathered. Tali would circle the wait staff, and all the underlings, see who she could get to talk, while Shepard would play the interested investor, see who would be interested in Alliance patronage, and see who would be a valuable contact down the road. Liara would work on an opposite tack as Shepard, representing alien interests.

Halfway to the table, A salarian and a tall human woman cut them off. Shepard smiled graciously, motioning them past as they almost collided.

"Our apologies. Noveria values its investors." The woman said, half bowing to Shepard as she went by.

"I should hope so." The salarian said snidely.

"You have me at a disadvantage." Shepard said, smiling and letting the sentence hang.

"Parasini. Gianna Parasini." The lady said, offering her hand. Shepard leaned down and kissed it lightly. He was getting better at concealing the rush of information he received every time he touched someone.

"Charmed."

"Oh! This is Administrator Anoleis, who is the Corporate Council's representative in Port Hanshan." Parasini said, motioning to the salarian, who sniffed.

"I'm sure you'll want to beg me for a favor or whatever other indirect manner of advancement you humans prefer. As a representative of the Corporate Council I'm neither allowed, nor interested. Now, if you'll excuse us, you're wasting my time." The salarian took off toward a grouping of humans with peculiar badges on their suits. Parasini looked apologetic.

"You'll have to excuse the Administrator –"

"Will I now?" Shepard said lightly, and Parasini laughed wryly and tilted her head toward him.

"As you like. He _is_ a figure of some importance around here, however." She tapped her nose, and said in a stage whisper, "Might want to get into his good books." She turned gracefully, so her dress flared a bit, and stalked off after the irate salarian.

"How do you _do_ that?" Tali complained as they completed their journey toward the empty table.

"Do what?" Shepard said mildly, smiling slightly.

"Charm the pants off of people within 5 minutes of meeting them." Kaidan said wryly, sliding into his chair – the one with its back to the wall and a good view of the room.

"I don't know if you were paying attention, Mr. Kravchenko, but she wasn't wearing pants." Shepard said. Kaidan rolled his eyes, and Liara stifled a gasp.

"Is a dress a sign of human promiscuity? I didn't-"

"Relax, Liara." Shepard had decided to change only the last names for their covers, so that there wouldn't be as many slip-ups. "It was a joke, and no, that is definitely not a human norm."

"Well that really depends on the dress." Kaidan said, smirking slightly. Liara, panicked, looked down at her dress. Kaidan laughed, "I'm teasing you, Doctor."

"Oh. OH!" Liara blushed slightly, her cheeks becoming a darker shade of blue.

"Right, let's go people. I have some contracts to win." Shepard said, activating his omni-tool. Kaidan activated his own, and sent the requisite file to Shepard, which gave him access to his suite of omni-tool programs. He'd had a few SpecTRe programs on there as well, but they were specifically designed to be undetectable by scan. He was curious to see if the private sector would be able to detect this, but they'd passed through without comment.

Shepard nodded to his team, and strode off toward the cocktail bar. Always have something in your hands, it makes you seem like a part of things. His lessons in blending, disguise, intelligence - drilled into him as he grew up, and when he trained with the alliance – came back to him easily, the lie becoming like breathing, charm like blinking. He stepped up, accepted a glass of some Elysian champagne, smiled to himself slightly at a joke no one else would get, and then walked over to a huddle of people.

Over the next half hour, he found 5 different corporate contacts that he could eventually develop into valuable assets, stole about 15 schematics that were corporate secrets via a SpecTRe program he tried out, and charmed everyone he came across. But of Saren and Benezia he'd heard nothing. He wasn't sure if it was the frustration, the lack of adrenaline, or some sick game of dominance played with the lights in the Port Hanshan Convention Center, but he had a pounding headache felt like it had reached down and grabbed his optic nerve and started pulling. He traded in his empty champagne glass for a water, and sat down next to Kaidan.

"Any news?" He asked to his Lieutenant. He looked up, but didn't say anything, listening to another crewmate report in.

"Liara has had some luck with the researchers." He said, grinning and pointing to a corner where the engineers required for accurate presentations had all gathered to gawk and sit stiffly. Liara had engaged them in conversation, and had quite the audience. Shepard grinned, watching her unconsciously work the crowd. She was a natural, her shyness giving her a bond on which to work and her natural curiosity keeping the company men telling far more than they were cleared to discuss. It helped that she could at least keep up with their tech talk (with a few helpful pointers from Kaidan), which was far more than their now tipsy bosses could claim.

"I haven't heard a thing from Tali though." Kaidan said. "Haven't seen her around, either."

"Tali?" Shepard sat down, pretending to talk to Kaidan while engaging his comm. The Lieutenant looked slightly discomfited as he fought to keep up the image of conversation.

"Report?" Shepard said only static replied. Shepard was about to open his omni-tool and ping her environmental suit, despite what it might do to give away her allegiances, when she replied, slightly breathless.

"Shepard, she's coming. Here. Tonight." Tali said. "I'm sending you everything I collected." There was a slight pause, while Shepard worked to process the bombshell Tali had unearthed, she worked up the courage to say something. "You were right. The cover you gave me is useful."

Shepard shook his head, clearing it from the tunnel-vision of adrenaline. "Should have asked first anyway. Give me the details. Where will the matriarch be arriving? With how many? What's her purpose here?"

There came a sudden hush from the gallery, as the live band stopped playing their sparkling jazz. A tall asari in a slim dress that whispered of wealth and power strode in, her lightly-clad feet making no sound against the thick carpeting. A detachment of commandos arrayed behind her, resplendent in their dress uniforms, all displaying the symbol of House T'Soni – a stylized _vathek_ (A fishing hawk only found near the areas around Serrice) holding a flaming branch.

Administrator Anoleis and the Corporate Council Chairman Allen Thomas were there to greet Benezia T'Soni as she entered the ballroom.

"Never mind Tali. She's just arrived."

The quarian gave a put-out sound, then replied. "I'm coming back into the ballroom." Shepard's omni-tool indicating it now had the fruits of Tali's snooping.

The Administrator and Chairman exchange a few words with the matriarch, unfortunately too far away to be heard, and then bow and dismiss themselves. Benezia motions to her escort, who then file out, leaving only two – presumably her personal bodyguards. The imposing figure of the asari drew the eyes of most in the room, and it isn't long before the elder T'Soni has a crowd of adorers and sycophants. In a moment, she makes a graceful gesture, and speaks some indistinct words, and half the crowd disperses.

"That's some serious charisma." Kaidan said, leaning back.

"When you've got 1000 years to practice, you can get pretty good at things." Shepard said dryly. "But it does seem to come naturally to her." He conceded after a second.

"Liara, stay with us!" Tali's voice echoed over the comms, and Shepard looked, spotting the quarian making her way along the side of the room, behind the tables. Shepard looked to where Liara was standing, staring at Benezia's tall form. Shepard tensed, expecting to have to intervene, when one of Liara's fan club touched her arm hesitantly. The asari shook her head, and apologized to the man, seeming to re-engage with the conversation, turning away from the matriarch. Benezia looked to where she was standing and froze for a second, studying Liara's scalp crests.

Before he knew quite what he was doing, Shepard was up and heading over to the small gaggle of people still surrounding Benezia. Working his way through effortlessly, he tapped the asari matriarch on the shoulder. An action of unspeakable rudeness in asari culture, but perfectly aligned with what his cover identity would do. As his finger made contact with Benezia's shoulder, his eyes and head gave a particularly harsh throb, and he stumbled into her, the powerful rush of information from a being so old and wise combining with the sudden blackness as his eyes burned with pain.

And then it was over. Shepard shook his head, winced when that added to the pain, and stumbled backwards a step.

"My…" Shepard closed his eyes, focusing on ignoring the pain. "My sincerest apologies Matriarch T'Soni." The asari matriarch held his gaze with a coolness that rivalled the temperatures outside. Her body language was screaming harsh reproach, but Shepard managed to keep his studied obliviousness, even when his head was beginning to feel like someone was pounding nails into his brain. "I'm afraid the wine got the better of me there for a moment. Is there anything I can do to express the depth of my shame?"

Benezia's body language remained reproachful, but her gaze softened ever so slightly. "Courtesy's place is to lead, not follow." The barest hint of a smile formed on her lips – something that would have been invisible to most of those present. "There are fewer messes for it to clean up, that way."

Shepard bowed, purposely aping the Thessian style. "I'm afraid the atmosphere and company lead me to run rather faster than my wits." Shepard grinned. "It doesn't help that they have such short legs."

That earned a genuine smile from Benezia, who began to study him closer. She stuck out her hand for him to shake, and he took it and kissed it, barely brushing his lips against the back of her hand.

"Alexander Pastoris, Lady T'Soni."

"I suspect you had another motive for crossing my path, Mr. Pastoris." The asari matriarch said, slyly smiling at Shepard, her tone rude but her body language suggesting she was enjoying the subterfuge.

"It would be remiss of me to demand formality when I have already so inescapably breached it. Alexander, if you would, Matriarch T'Soni." Shepard inclined his head at the asari. "And while you are correct, it would seem foolhardy to propose something that demands finesse and discretion when the initial impression conveys anything but."

The Matriarch was saved from having to reply when her omni-tool beeped, a small, urgent sound cut through the conversation. Benezia read the message quickly, her face giving nothing away, then looked back up to Shepard.

"I have sent my contact details to your address, Mr. Pastoris. I'm afraid something has come up."

"Of course, Matriarch T'Soni. We'll be in touch." The matriarch turned to go, throwing one last glance toward the corner were Liara had been, only to find that she had left. She and her bodyguards walked quickly out the side door, which led into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard clutched his head and stumbled, his head and eyes throbbing anew.

"Tell me you got something on her." Shepard said as he made his way back to the table where Kaidan was watching with concern.

"Tali's a genius." Was all he said, motioning to the quarian, who had finally joined them. Shepard looked up and smiled weakly,

"Ah, but we already knew that."

Tali bobbed her head at the compliment, nerves and excitement blending her body language. "I managed to get a trace on her omni-tool. Would have been a long shot, especially working through your omni-tool"

"-you were working through my omni-tool?"

Shepard couldn't see her face, but he would have sworn Tali had a sly smile on it. "If my work was discovered, you would have had both motive and opportunity. It would keep security from asking too many questions"

"…. When did you get so devious?" Shepard asked, still cradling his head.

"I do recall you giving several training sessions on stuff like this, Commander." Liara said, joining them at the table. "We have confirmation Benezia is here." Through the pain in his head, Shepard noticed a certain coldness to Liara's voice. The use of her mother's first name was interesting as well. "What's our next move?"

"Give me a minute." Shepard said.

"Migraine?" Kaidan asked, sounding sympathetic.

Shepard shook his head. "Never had them before. Just-" A fresh wave of pain roared through his head, then stilled to a dull throb. Shepard shook his head, and looked at his team.

"Alright. We need to figure out where Matriarch Benezia went, and have a private chat with her about some of her more unsavory associations."

"Tali and I can trace her omni-tool, and find out the where. You and Liara will have to work out how to get there, however." Kaidan pulled up his own omni-tool. He and Tali conferred for a bit, the tech-talk going straight over Shepard's head. Liara seemed to be keeping up, however, nodding and even throwing in her own suggestions. Where the shy archaeologist had learned about the backdoors in Serrice Council omni-tools nobody knew, and Shepard made a note to ask her about it later. One of many, it would seem.

In the end, Tali and Kaidan, working in sync, managed to rig a program that would release a tracking pulse that could be picked up by their omni-tools. However, once it had, it would be detected and shut down. They would get one pulse of a general location, then they would lose both the information on place and the element of surprise. Which meant they'd need to verify the locator pulse another way. Shepard sighed, his head still pounding. Back to schmoozing, it would seem.

"Tali, I'm going to need to you get a fix on the mark's location."

"Oh, just ask Lilihierax. He's chatty, for a turian."

"Well, he'd be happy to talk to the inquisitive quarian then?"

"He's a turian on a majority human world, Shepard. On a _corporate_ human world. He's happy to talk to anyone who will "talk straight" and isn't racist."

"Point." Shepard said. "Ask him."

Tali huffed, but did as Shepard asked, she carried on a nice conversation with the affable turian, before closing the link on her omni-tool, and turning to the group.

"Our target is going to Peak 15." She said shortly. Shepard pulled up what he knew of the holdings on Noveria that were connected to Saren and Benezia, searching for what connected the two.

"Looks like Peak 15 is an R&D lab for Binary Helix." Shepard said. Kaidan pulled up his own omni-tool and ran his own research.

"They've got a hand in most everything, Alexander." He said Shepard's name with a note of unfamiliarity and discomfort. Shepard made a note to work on that with him. "Genetics research is their forte, but they've gone to great lengths to keep everyone out."

Shepard looked out the window, which graciously provided a view of the mountains that were totally obscured by the near white-out conditions. "Including shipping a board member to their facility in a blizzard." He said quietly. He looked back at his squad, who were looking to him eagerly, expecting him to pull something to get them closer to their target. "Right, we need a way onto Peak 15. How do we get there?"

"The weather conditions make it too difficult to fly in." Liara said, nodding to the window.

"And I doubt they'll just let us borrow a vehicle." Tali nodded sourly to Administrator Anoleis, who was now berating a human in a server's uniform. He was shaking and nearly in tears by the time the Administrator was done. The salarian gave a dismissive motion and stomped over to another table, where he then played gracious host for the Corporate Council's bigger backers.

Shepard looked around, searching for the Administrator's aide – Parasini, as he recalled. Seeing the olive-skinned woman speaking authoritatively to a group of bored-looking businessmen, Shepard motioned for his table to resume positions, then wandered over.

"Mr. Pastoris! How are you enjoying the party?" The secretary asked, bowing slightly, an unidentifiable glint in her eyes.

"I'm afraid myself and my fellow representatives are ready to retire. Rest assured we have been marvelously entertained."

"That's a shame." Parasini said, a small smile playing about her face. "The party will certainly be more predictable without you."

Shepard smiled and bowed his head to Parasini, the semantics not lost on him. 'you' was at once singular and plural, meaning him and the Alliance, who he purported to represent. It was a warning disguised as flirting, or flirting disguised as a warning, depending.

"There is one thing you can do for me."

"Just one?" The secretary's smile was wide.

"For now, anyway." Shepard smiled. "My clients and I were looking to rent one of the Peaks for research and development, and would like to view one while we're here. How would we go about getting access?"

Parasini seemed disappointed at the mundane question. "Well, you'd need a garage pass, or have someone who has one accompany you. You would rent one of our Overland vehicles, as the local climate makes flying inadvisable most days."

"Ah, but what would it take to get one _tonight_." Shepard said, leaning forward and giving a conspiratorial edge to his words.

Ms. Parasini did not seem impressed. "You'd need to know someone with a pass. Usually they're in senior positions, like the Administrator, or Lorik Qui'in, or the Lady Benezia."

Shepard noticed that Parasini had leaned in slightly on that last name, a curious glint in her eyes. He smiled easily. "Since the administrator is far from impressed with me, and the Matriarch has left the party, it would seem I should meet this Mr. Qui'in." Shepard inclined his head. "Thank you, Ms. Parasini"

"Please, just Gianna." The woman smiled enigmatically.

"Well, thank you, Gianna." Shepard half-bowed, wincing as his head gave another vicious throb. "Where might I find the illustrious Mr. Qui'in?"

Gianna smiled. "He's drinking by himself at the bar." She waved over to the table nearest the bar. Lorik Qui'in was leaned back in his chair, pensively holding a glass of some green liquid Shepard assumed was alcoholic. "Be warned, though. He knows how Noveria works. He'll probably ask a favor for a favor." Gianna said, that unidentifiable glint in her eye again.

Shepard sighed, but smiled wryly. "Nobody takes IOUs anymore." Parasini laughed, and turned to resume her duties as Shepard made his way over to the lounging turian.

"Good evening. Sit down, have a drink." The turian waved graciously toward the empty seats, one of which Shepard pulled out and sat down in.

"I'm Alexander Pastoris, Mr. Qui'in. I hear you can help me out."

"And what could an old turian like me help you out with?" Lorik gently set his glass down on the table, staring at Shepard with renewed interest.

"I'm hoping to get a look at one of the research Peaks out there." Shepard gestured toward the window behind the bar. "I hear you need a garage pass for that."

"Ah, but you don't need me for that. The Alliance just needs to put in an application for a tour." Quiin held his ground, staring evenly at Shepard.

"I was hoping to get a tour tonight." Shepard said, his voice slightly lower than normal.

"So the rumors are true. The Alliance is, oh, what is the word? Spooking?" the turian said mildly, taking his glass back in his talons again.

"Snooping." Shepard corrected.

"Yes, that too." Qui'in waved his hand. "Hmm. If that is the case, we might be able to help each other out." He took a sip of his drink. "Provided you do some spooking for me."

"I might be able to help. Did you have something in mind?"

"I am the manager of the local Synthetic Insights office. For the moment, at least." Qui'in put his drink down and leaned forward. "Mr. Anoleis closed my office. He claims to be investigating reports of my corruption." The turian's mandibles widened and lowered in what Shepard had learned was an expression of disgust. "The administrator is an interesting man. He has become quite wealthy since he took direct control of the rents."

"Has he now." Shepard murmured, distaste for the salarian rising.

"Quite." Qui'in sighed. "I acquired evidence of Anoleis' actions. His hired goons are ransacking my office to find it. If you recover the evidence from my office, I will give you the garage pass, as well as a sum of credits."

"You sound like you've got a plan?" Shepard asked, leaning forward himself.

"I do. However, there is one other – what's that charming human expression? 'fly in the lotion?" Qui'in leaned back.

"Violence against Mr. Anoleis' thugs may be necessary. He has members of Port Hanshan's security team searching my offices. He is paying them under the table. Ms. Matsuo is unaware of their outside employment." Qui'in leaned backwards, his dark eyes searching Shepard.

It was a test, a probe, trying to figure out just how badly Shepard wanted to get out of Port Hanshan.

"Then I will have to be extremely discreet. And try to nab their name-tags on the way out." Shepard said confidently, not breaking eye contact with the turian.

"Good luck." Lorik Qui'in nodded to Shepard, and handed him an OSD. Shepard nodded his thanks and then got up and walked back to the table where Kaidan was waiting.

"I need you guys to confirm a story for me." He said as he sat down. He gave them the details of Lorik Qui'in's accusations and request. They searched what they could, finding no hard evidence, of course. But there were enough flags in the published accounting data and flags in other areas – Anoleis had an extremely expensive long-range aircar, which was mystifying, as most days it would be impossible to fly on Noveria. The move to take over the rents was a matter of public record. There were also several patrol vehicles outside the Synthetic Insights office at the moment, though comm traffic on the security channels gave no indications of this.

Shepard sighed, and rubbed his head, which was still pounding. "Right. Kaidan, you're with me. Tali, Liara, stay on comms and watch the door for us. We may be in a hurry on the way out. Find a place with a good overlook to the office. Be creative if you have to, but don't draw attention." He and his team opened their omni-tools, syncing their chronometers. "Begin exit protocols."

Kaidan got up and stretched, making boredom the chief emotion on his face. He wandered off, pretending to stare at the bar menu, before making a bee-line for the exit by the bathrooms. As he was staring at the bar menu, Tali got up and walked straight out, pretending to talk to someone on her omni-tool, while surreptitiously doing scans for any bugs or tracking devices. Shepard and Liara had some inane banter, and as Liara was getting up to leave, Shepard reached out and grabbed her arm. That spark of contact, the information from the touch made both of them stiffen for a second. Shepard knew she was scared. She was sad, and she was furious.

"Liara - when I stumbled into the Matriarch…" Liara's face twisted slightly, and she gave Shepard a direct, intense stare. "She didn't feel right. Like she wasn't all there."

"You think it was what Shiala talked about?" Liara took a shuddering breath. "Can we-"

Shepard shook his head. "I don't know. I will do what I can, but…"

"She's a matriarch with 500 years of combat experience." Liara said quietly. "I – Thank you, Alexander." With that, she left, gliding serenely out of the room, nodding politely to anyone who made eye contact with her. Shepard leaned back in his chair, watching the room. The party was just past the half-way point, where the interesting things started to happen. The businessmen were now thoroughly drunk, and the engineers were too. The Administrator was irascibly telling off someone else, while swaying slightly on his feet. Shepard stood slowly, making his way across the ballroom. The band had put up a lively tune, and there were people out dancing on the floor, including one rather drunk turian, who was dancing rather impressively. Shepard almost stopped and stared, but managed to avert his gaze.

* * *

He made it out of the ballroom without attracting attention, and met with Kaidan around the corner from the Synthetic Insights office. Motioning for Kaidan to follow his lead, Shepard slunk around the corner, staying to the shadows that the blizzard and warm interior lighting produced. As the office door came into sight, Shepard noted the two patrol cars on the avenue outside and the two human guards in ERCS armor idly leaned up against the columns that supported the awnings over the walk. Relieved that they were facing outward, Shepard quietly opened his omni-tool, using one of his SpecTRe programs to open the lock. The program blazed through the lock in a scant 5 seconds, and he and Alenko rounded the corner into the office before the guards outside had time to process the noise of the door opening.

The interior was much more spacious than the exterior suggested. A large window lined one wall, a balcony and railing indicating the office extended downward as well as upward, where Lorik Qui'in's office lay. Rummaging noises could be heard up and down the premises, as corrupt security forces ransacked the offices to find the evidence of Anoleis' corruption. Since the window was the only true light source at the moment, Shepard surmised the corrupt cops had cut the power to avoid the security VI logging their entrance.

Shepard and Kaidan darted into a nearby alcove as an irritated human in armor wandered by, omni-tool open and scanning. Shepard motioned as the guard sighed in frustration and started back up the balcony. As soon as he had wandered away, the Alliance marines darted around the corner, running up the ramp as fast as discretion would allow. They ducked and went low as they approached the top opening, visually scanning for more of the corrupt forces. Once they saw the coast was clear, they moved quickly into a nearby office. As they ducked behind a desk, avoiding the flashlight of one of the cops as he wandered by. Out of curiosity, and seeing the terminal they were hiding behind had an independent power source, Shepard opened his omni-tool and hacked in. What he founds were records from Synthetic Insights accounting division. He copied all he could to his omni-tool, then had Kaidan erase his cyber-trail. Having something on Qui'in might be useful later.

Shepard and Kaidan moved carefully around the desk they were hiding behind, making their way to the next alcove, sticking to the shadows, and synthetic plants that lined the walls of this upper level.

"Huh?"

Shepard swore to himself. One of the security forces must've seen the light from the hacked computer.

"Kaira, come here."

"If this is another joke I'm going to pound your spine into sand." An irate female voice echoed from Qui'in's office.

"Come one, Kaira, would I do that to you now of all places?"

"Yes." Three voices echoed from around the balconies. Shepard could hear the unapologetic grin in the observant guard's voice.

"Well I'm not pulling your leg this time."

Shepard frowned. He hadn't heard that expression before.

"Fine." There was the sound of armored boots on the stone floor, and a blonde woman in ERCS armor strode past, muttering profanities as she did so. Kaidan and Shepard took the opportunity, leaving their little alcove and going as fast as they could into the office before the doors automatically closed.

Shepard motioned for Kaidan to lock the door as he put Qui'in's OSD into his terminal. The screen popped up, and a loading bar indicated the progress made. Shepard noted that the drive was copying the entire contents of the computer, not just the files necessary to implicate Anoleis. Curiouser and curiouser. Shepard frowned, and then opened his omni-tool and plugged it into the other side of the OSD, making a copy for himself as well. A message popped up on the files, and Shepard read it quickly and dismissed it.

Kaidan looked up at him, a worried expression on his face, as Kaira started speaking over comms, her voice deadly calm. Shepard smiled. Kaidan had hacked their comms while he'd been concerned with the terminal.

"All squads, we've got an uninvited visitor. Make sure they feel welcome."

The sound of armored boots came quickly down the hallway from outside. Thinking quickly, Shepard motioned for Kaidan to unlock the door.

He did it, but he looked at Shepard like he questioned his sanity.

Shepards' omni-tool gave notice that it had completed its operation, and the Commander stifled a sigh of relief. Ducking behind the door, they waited, tense, as Kaira's booted feet stopped outside the door. The door slid back smoothly, and the irate woman stepped through, scowling. She glanced around, eyes widening as she saw Kaidan crouching beside the door, she opened her mouth to yell profanity, or for backup, when Shepard came around the desk, a massive right hook slamming into her right cheek. She stumbled back, dazed, but furious. Shepard felt as the corrupt cop began to call on her biotics, his own nerves resonating. Kaira stopped and tripped, suddenly unable to move as she wanted. Shepard saw Kaidan close his omni-tool, and then give a swift punch to the back of the cop's head, knocking her out cold.

Nodding his thanks, Shepard unhooked the unconscious cop's Omni-tool from its port on her armor, wondering what else he might find. The pair then darted out the door, into the next nearest office, waiting for the prankster who'd spotted the computer to turn around, before shooting across the corridor, sliding to a stop near the top of the ramp down.

"Who's there?"

The guard turned the flashlight from his omni-tool toward where they were hiding, the wall they were crouched behind obscuring them. Mostly.

Footsteps approached them, and as they neared the edge of the wall where they were, Shepard leaped out, and slammed the cop's head against the balcony railing, hearing a crack as the guy's nose snapped. Why they weren't wearing helmets was beyond Shepard, but he was intensely thankful for it. The corrupt cop cried out in pain, and reached for his sidearm, dazed. Shepard grabbed his arm, and stole the pistol at his side, unshipping it and smacking the butt into the man's temple, then throwing him down the ramp.

"Man down!"

Blast. Shepard motioned to Kaidan, who took off after him as he sprinted down the ramp. The marines went into a slide as two corrupt cops rounded the corner, firing their pistols at the intruders. Hyperaccelerated rounds bit into the stonework around them, the shrapnel spraying into their faces, leaving fine cuts. As they ended their slide, Kaidan took the cop on the right, Shepard the one on the left. Kaidan swung low, coming up inside the man's firing stance, and slamming an elbow into the man's face. As the man reacted, Kaidan grabbed his gun and did a repeat of Shepard's earlier move, giving his opponent a concussion. When the Lieutenant looked over, Shepard had already taken off running.

As they reached the doors, Shepard opened his omni-tool, shouting.

"Tali, Liara, we need a distraction, now!"

"What kind?" Liara asked.

"Something big!"

"You know, the thing with these big corporate holdings is-" Tali began, as Shepard and Kaidan reached the doors.

The doors slid open with a slight pneumatic hiss, revealing the two cops on guard pointing their sidearms at the door. There was a split second silence as the marines and the corrupt guards looked at each other in surprise. Then the two patrol cars behind them exploded. Ears ringing, the guards stumbled forward, more than enough time for Shepard and Kaidan to quickly incapacitate them.

"- They're always cutting safety regulations." Tali finished, sounding smug.

Shepard laughed as he and Kaidan took off around the corner, fleeing the scene.

* * *

Shepard and his squad approached the doors to the Gala, Shepard and Kaidan having dusted their suit-jackets off, and used medi-gel to close the wounds the shrapnel had caused on their faces. As Kaidan went to open the door, Gianna Parasini stepped out of the shadows in the alcove, causing Tali and Liara to jump.

"You've certainly been busy tonight, Mr. Pastoris." The secretary said, smiling enigmatically.

"When the Alliance decides to change a stance, they want everything done by yesterday." Shepard gave a wan smile. "Have to work quickly to appease my superiors."

"And the garage pass Mr. Qui'in offered?" She said, smiling innocently. Shepard frowned.

"He offered to give us a tour of Synthetic Insight's –" Parasini sighed and opened her omni-tool, generating a miniature EMP flash that would wipe out any bugs within a 30 meter range. And most other computers too. The squad's omni-tools had been specially hardened for combat, so they were resistant, however.

"Drop the act." Parasini pulled a badge from somewhere, the piece of metal glinting slightly from the light inside the ballroom.

"Agent Parasini, Internal Affairs." Agent Parasini put the badge away. "You have some evidence I need."

"You're working to bring down Anoleis?" Kaidan asked.

"He violated the golden rule of Corporate politics: Don't rock the boat. Self-interest is… tolerated, but Anoleis is driving customers away."

"What do you want from us then, Ms. Parasini?" Liara asked.

"You have Qui'in's evidence on Anoleis' corruption. I want the OSD and you to convince him to testify."

"And we need the garage pass he's offered in trade." Shepard said evenly.

The internal affairs agent smiled. "Then don't let me stop you. It will be interesting to see how you convince the security system you're turian, however."

Kaidan swore to himself.

"I'd hate to see all that work you did at Synthetic Insights wasted. I'll get you the pass, if you give me the data and get Qui'in to testify against Anoleis."

Shepard sighed. "I'll copy the data over to you, but I need to keep the OSD to give to Mr. Qui'in." Gianna opened her mouth to object, but Shepard continued. "In return, I'll give this" he handed over Kaira Stirling's omni-tool "Which should implicate all the security forces that Anoleis used to cover his tracks."

Agent Parasini's eyebrows went skyward. "The case is pretty much bulletproof with this…" She said, activating the tool and reading briefly.

"You made us and coerced our cooperation rather neatly, Ms. Parasini." Shepard said. "Stay in touch. We might be able to help each other in the future." So saying, he sent an address to Parasini's omni-tool, along with the relevant OSD data, (which had been quickly parsed by Tali as they had walked to the ballroom) and strode in the large double doors.

Qui'in looked gratified as Shepard approached the table where he was lounging, making his way across the dance floor full of stumbling businessmen and women. As Shepard sat down, and slid the OSD over, Qui'in opened his omni-tool to transfer the credits, commenting,

"You did well, though I admit it was louder than I anticipated."

"I want you to testify in front of the Corporate courts." Shepard was getting tired of circuitous language, courtesy of his still-throbbing head.

"What? Returning my property is one thing, but dictating how I use it-"

"You might have guessed I represent more than just Alliance business interests. Well, I was made by an Internal Affairs agent on the way in." Shepard tapped the OSD. "I gave her a copy of the data relevant to Anoleis. _Just_ the data relevant."

Qui'ins body language gave no indication he was surprised, but Shepard knew it all the same.

"You owe me one. Especially for not telling me I'd need to pass a biometric scan when presenting the garage pass." Shepard leaned forward, and his squad materialized from the crowd. Kaidan sat next to him, while Liara and Tali remained standing.

Shepard had to admire how the old turian didn't give anything away even now.

"But I like you, Mr. Qui'in. You're polite. Your English is excellent." Kaidan raised his eyebrows, and looked at the turian closer. "And you're devious when you need to be, but abhor dishonor." Shepard gestured to where the corrupt Administrator was talking low and fast with a harried and disheveled looking member of one of Port Hanshan's security teams.

"So, you'll testify, accept whatever honor or strain the corporate court decides to put on you for your trouble. You'll also keep the reward money you offered me, as well as your garage pass. Instead, you'll take this." Shepard opened his omni-tool and sent Qui'in an address to keep in touch. "And we can discuss a future partnership – without the backroom dealing and one-upsmanship Noveria so adores." Shepard leaned back. "After all, it's not every day I meet a member of the Blackwatch."

Lorik Qui'in let out a long, low laugh. He leaned forward, his eyes now glinting with something more predatory, belying the image of a gentlemanly old turian. "Well played, human." He chuckled once more. "It's been a long time since I've seen the game so well played. We will be in touch."

Shepard nodded affably, and got up. "It's been a pleasure, Mr. Qui'in."

"Likewise."

Shepard and his squad got up and made their way to an empty table, as he sent a quick message to Gianna Parasini. Then, they sat back and watched the show.

Shortly after Shepard sent the message, Gianna strode across the ballroom, grabbing the Administrator's attention. As they were discussing something seemingly mundane, Anoleis got increasingly worked up, nearly shouting at his secretary. While he was doing that, plainclothes members of Internal Affairs began surrounding them.

"So, how did you know he was with Blackwatch?" Kaidan asked as the drama unfolded.

"They had sent a message requesting information from Qui'in while he was out of his office. Since the OSD had _all_ the passwords for that terminal, it unlocked the shadow drive and the message system, where that was waiting."

"huh." Kaidan said, watching as the businessmen and women started forming a circle around the nearly incoherent Anoleis.

"How'd you get Kaira Stirling all tied up?" Shepard asked out of curiosity.

The Administrator had gone beyond incandescent rage and was cooling off, though his stance seemed to indicate violence was imminent.

"It's like Tali said. Corporate cutting corners." The lieutenant nodded to the quarian, who looked pleased. "That line of ERCS armor has some… idiosyncrasies." Kaidan leaned back. "If you hack the omni-tool plugged into it, you can send a command to lock all the joints on the armor."

"Neat." Shepard said.

Parasini, now sure all the Internal Affairs support had arrived, made her move, announcing the Administrator's arrest, which hit a brick wall of denial.

"Quite the diversion by the way, Tali." Shepard nudged the quarian with his elbow.

"It was nothing." She said nervously.

"She's being modest." Liara said. "Like the Lieutenant, she noticed that particular brand of skycar was discontinued for its own idiosyncrasies." She smiled, though the gesture was not as full as it might have otherwise been. "One of which how was how easy it was to remotely trigger a cored dump. Without its safety protocols."

"Impressive." Shepard said.

Anoleis was now resisting arrest, much to Parasini's visible glee. He moved to pass her, and bounced off a rather hefty turian in the process. He leaped back, the look of dawning realization of just how much he'd been played inspiring laughter among the _Normandy_ 's representatives.

As the administrator was being hauled away, to the belated gasps of the gala's guests, Parasini dropped by the table where Shepard and his crew sat.

"Thanks." She said, throwing a digital pass at Shepard, who caught it. "I owe you a beer." She winked, and walked out of the doors, humming to herself.

Shepard sighed and rubbed his temples, his headache reminding him of its presence rather insistently.

"Alright. Kaidan, contact the Normandy. We shouldn't keep Benezia waiting."

"Aye sir. I'm on it."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Sorry that one took so long. I'd say life jumped me in a back-alley, but it's more like I wandered into its traffic and was surprised when I got flattened.**

 **Convoluted excuse/metaphor aside, I hope you enjoyed my alternative take on Port Hanshan!**

 **Unfortunately, I'm afraid I'm not at a place right now where I can promise regular updates, but I am committed to getting to the end of Mass Effect at the very least.**

 **As always, thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12: Ends and Beginnings

Shepard found his squad waiting at the parking garage. They'd asked if he wanted the full marine contingent, and he had declined, hoping things weren't worse than they appeared. The matriarch would be formidable, and the contingent of guards no joke, but he hoped he wouldn't need to give an all-out assault on the research labs. Shepard was in the process of discussing potential exfiltration strategies – peak 15 in particular seemed like a fortress – when ensign Tucks gave a cry and dove on top of Shepard, knocking him down.

Geth gunfire chattered over their head, eating into the tall walls of the garage. Shepard was rolling, calling out, "Ambush!" before he could think. He zigged and zagged forward, leaving half his hardsuit behind in the case it had been brought in.

A bright light peeped from behind cover, and Shepard _pulled_ , his mutant nerves singing as he called gravity to his beck and call, ripping the machine from cover. He heard a shotgun blast go off, and the machine sprayed white fluid and spun off, landing with an echoing clang as gravity reasserted itself. Shepard spun around the crate he'd been crouched behind, moving towards the muzzle flashes and geth lights. Something detonated, and a massive EMP shook the facility, causing him to stumble and his omnitool to shut down. The hardened circuits wouldn't be damaged, but the overload would cause a reboot. The lights went out, and Shepard rested against his crate. He didn't even have a pistol, just his concealed knives and biotics. Swearing to himself, he pulled one of his knives, and waited. Hearing a break in the gunfire, he dashed around, running as silently as he could towards where thought the geth were.

Silently thanking Nihlus for relentlessly drilling him on scenarios that had him outgunned and underequipped as he snaked around the corner, Shepard found himself sure of his movements despite the situation. He spun around the last corner, and found himself face-to-face with a geth sniper crouching for a great leap. He lunged instinctively, grabbing its leg as it rocketed upward. There came a great yank, and Shepard felt the ground fall away beneath him. He grunted, and planted his knife in a slot underneath the geth sniper's armor, severing a few cords as he did. White fluid leaked down the machines side, a ghostly white waterfall erupting in the middle of the dark garage.

They reached the apex of the Geth's jump and hung still for one silent second. It was far short of the ceiling, but high enough up that the landing would hurt, Shepard guessed. He glanced around. The landing might really hurt. Industrial garages weren't exactly replete with soft, rounded surfaces.

His head gave another throb, and Shepard suddenly decided he was out of patience for the situation. He yelled, and flared blue – a hanging star in the dark garage, and yanked the sniper beneath him, grabbing the thing's rifle. He kicked, and the machine went tumbling back to earth, still trailing white fluid and making digital noises that somehow managed to convey concern.

Shepard released the field he'd held himself aloft with, and felt Noveria's gravity take hold, yanking him downward far too fast. He barely noticed as the lights came on in the garage. He had seen what he'd wanted to see – his team working autonomously, without his orders, flanking and taking down the remaining geth with methodical precision. Shepard flared blue again, and slowed his descent again – a move made tricky not by the technical mastery required, but for keeping one's balance in the fighting gravity fields. He landed safely, and shot the feebly struggling geth sniper in the head with its own gun.

The echoing blast was the last shot of the fight. Ms. Matsuo burst into the garage, looking angry and ready for a confrontation. She and her security detail stopped, mouths involuntarily opening and closing in shock.

Shepard dug his knife out from the torso of the geth sniper, white coolant coating his hand and dripping off of it as he turned to confront the shocked security chief.

"You and I have different ideas of how to keep people from leaving a party." Shepard snarled, headache and the sudden absence of adrenaline making him irritable.

"We had no idea... How could they have…"

"I think Benezia snuck them in here with the cargo." Tali said quietly. Shepard nodded to himself. That seemed likely. The geth wouldn't give off life signs, and would have sophisticated defenses against detection by mechanical sensors. What was curious though, was the reason the matriarch had felt the need to leave an ambush in the garage.

"But we scanned…" Matsuo began.

But Shepard had had enough. "Ensign Tucks."

"Yes sir!" The ensign dusted himself off and saluted.

"You have my sincere thanks for saving my life. Unfortunately, I'm going to need you to explain the situation to Ms. Matsuo here. We have a Research facility to get to."

The ensign nodded, beaming in pride at having saved the commander's life. He stepped forward primly to meet the security chief. Shepard had no idea what he would say, but hoped it would be good. He motioned to the rest of his squad, and they started packing themselves into the OAV[1]. Shepard slapped on the rest of his armor, pulled the helmet over his head, activated the pass Parasini gave them, and headed out into the swirling white void in front of them before the security chief got herself together enough to wonder what they were doing in the garage in the first place.

* * *

Noveria's climate was almost as inhospitable as the corporate culture. A blizzard swirled and whipped around their vehicle, the questing shards of its fingers scrabbling like some furious and insubstantial beast at the cracks in the lumbering vehicle's armor. Tali, sitting next to him, shivered. The thick armor plating of the OAV couldn't quite drown out the howling roar of the storm.

"Cold?" Shepard asked.

Tali nodded. "I am still not used to-" She paused and looked down. "Well, I am not used to weather." She shook her head slightly. "It's not something you think about when you live on a ship for most of your life."

Shepard nodded, and was about to say something, when there came a rather distinct _ping!_ and the OAV shook slightly.

"What was that?" Liara asked, her eyes giving away what she guessed.

"Gunfire." Ashely and Wrex grunted, putting on their helmets and moving to defensive positions. Kaidan, who was driving up front yelled back to them.

"I think I see them commander! Two contacts, 3 o'clock."

"Are there any weapons on this thing?" Garrus asked, flexing his talons.

"No." Wrex said. He sounded disappointed.

Shepard sighed, and tilted his head at Ashley. "Ash, on me."

They got up, Ashley grabbing her rifles, and Shepard an assault rifle and his pistol. Putting on their helmets, they stepped quietly out into the freezing wind, while the OAV kept up a slow course beside them. They ducked and snaked around, trying to gain visual on the geth shooting at them.

Shepard thought as they settled into position, the weather only barely held at bay by their sealed hardsuits. The Matriarch had left obstacles for them along the way. Whether from paranoia or some knowledge she'd had of their chase, Shepard didn't know. And it bothered him.

"I've got a clear shot." Ash said over the comms.

"Take it."

There came an echoing crack, and one of the geth soldiers went down. The other one turned directly their direction, and began firing. Shepard hit the deck, as did Ash, a second later. They crouched there, not moving, waiting as Ashley lined up another shot. There came another crack, and a grunt of satisfaction from Ash.

"Starting to think you don't need me around." Shepard quipped.

"Someone's gotta be the eye candy." Ashely said, a grin in her voice.

"Remind me to send you to Chakwas for an optometry exam." Shepard said dryly.

There was an ominous rumble that shook free of the howling of the blizzard. Great white bursts of powder shot from the mountainside they were on. Ash and Shepard looked at each other. Then they sprinted into the OAV.

"Step on it Lieutenant!" Shepard said as the door closed behind him. "Avalanche!" a deep rumbling now complementing the screeching chorus of the blizzard, as thousands of tons of snow and rock began tumbling down the mountainside.

Kaidan obliged, spinning the wheels and speeding them around the twisting mountain path with surprising alacrity for the lumbering ox of a vehicle. Shepard held on as he felt the wheels spin out, skidding across the frozen surface. They rounded a draw, Kaidan using the slide to make the turn at speed. He released the pedal, letting the wheels find traction again, then punched them forward once more, as what seemed like half the mountain came down behind them, barreling over the path and destroying their way back.

"We're clear commander." Kaidan said, letting out a long breath, and wiping the sweat that had gathered on his face. "But we're not going back the way we came."

* * *

That somber news kept everyone quiet as they rode towards Peak 15 – a massive, crowned and jagged mountain that deserved a name much loftier than peak 15, Shepard thought, even if it had been John Grissom who'd originally named the range. The encountered little resistance as they made their way towards the peak, and were able to speed by the geth sentries. They'd know they were coming, but they hadn't expected catching Benezia would be easy, either.

The sense of unquiet dread only grew as they reached the entrance to Peak 15, and found another OAV empty, the garage door broken in three places and tilted crazily on its tracks. Kaidan pulled up broad, pointing the strong side towards the door. As soon as their OAV came near the door, geth bullets started pinging the sides of the vehicle. They poured out of their transport, assembled into two teams, flanked the metal bastards, and tore their way into the facility.

Stopping to catch their breath once the geth had been reduced to so much broken robotics, the team looked around, examining the damage that had greeted them. Two OAVs had been destroyed, their tires melted and now congealed. One lay on its side, broken axles sticking out at crazy angles. There was a group of 4 dead humans, all in lab coats, that lay near the access door to the garage. They'd been shot from behind.

"Looks like they burned their ships." Kaidan said. Ashley nodded, and Shepard, confused, asked,

"what do you mean?"

"Cortez." Kaidan said, confused.

Shepard joined the aliens in looking perplexed.

"Conquest of Mexico?" Ashley offered.

Shepard and the nonhuman's confusion did not abate.

Kaidan sighed. "Cortez, during his conquest of Mexico, against numerically superior and technologically inferior forces, burned his ships so that his men would be forced to commit totally to their goal."

"Sleep through that lecture, Skipper?" Ashley asked, grinning impishly.

Shepard grunted. "Raised on Thessia, remember?" The chasm between himself and other humans always yawned open before him at inopportune moments.

Ash was saved from having to reply by Liara, who said quietly,

"I did not think my mother could be so… ruthless." Liara took a breath. "Committed, yes, but this…" She trailed off.

It was Wrex, of all people, who comforted her. "Her choices are not yours." He rumbled, giving her a look in his great red eyes that seemed to foster a resolve in the shy former archaeologist.

Shepard nodded. If anyone knew what Liara would be feeling, it would be Wrex.

Liara took a shuddering breath, held it, and then released it, her eyes clear and focused. "I am ready." She said simply. Shepard nodded, and they moved onward.

The tunnels and corridors they searched their way through were simple and spare, industrial steel and plastics only marred by the fallen corpse of a former researcher, security guard, or serviceperson. It was grim walking, but they encountered little resistance. As they wound their way around, searching for a sign of life, or even a console with power, the oppressive silence and feeling of unease only increased.

Finding nothing, they headed towards the elevator, opening the small antechamber, presumably for decontamination or even just the chance to put on warmer gear. There were two autoturrets propped up.

"Commander. They're facing the wrong way." Garrus said, a hint of his unease showing through the harmonics in his flanged voice.

"Make a firing line. Wrex, take point, Ash, Garrus, give him back up. Liara, Tali, I want you further back, ready to assist. Kaidan, with me."

The squad lined themselves up as ordered, the corridor now packed with bristling weapons as Kaidan and Shepard snuck down the hallway, as he and Kaidan crouched and positioned themselves on either side of the elevator door. Shepard pressed the button. There was a tense few seconds of silence, then the elevator reached their level, and opened with a pleasant _ding!_ Despite being one of them, Shepard was never sure why humans felt the need to make their elevators vocal.

The doors slid open smoothly, a slight pneumatic hiss the only sign of the facility's built-in security measures. The squad's fingers tightened on their guns and…

Nothing. The elevator was empty.

Shepard took his angles, making sure the elevator was truly empty, before shrugging, and stepping inside. The squad followed him in. It was a little cramped.

The doors opened once more, and they spilled out of the elevator, guns up and tracking. Even Liara and Tali, the ones with the least military experience, were showing good discipline. Shepard spared a moment to be proud of how much they'd improved with the continual drilling.

They exited a similar airlock to the one a floor below, and freezing wind hit them, along with a howling whistle that came from Noveria's angry wind glancing furiously off of a shattered window.

"That's not good." Shepard heard Kaidan say.

"Ya think, Lieutenant?" Ash said tartly.

"Shepard, come look at this." Tali motioned to him, and Shepard walked over. Two geth platforms lay in a twisted and melted mess near the door, their 'arms' entangled and their legs melted and congealed on the industrial flooring, half covered by snow that had been blown in.

"The alloy the geth use to construct their platforms has trace amounts of platinum and gold in it. It's extremely unreactive. Whatever acid did this…" Tali trailed off. Shepard's face tightened, but he just nodded and patted Tali's shoulder.

The squad moved down the hallway, into what had been a mess hall. Snow had covered the surface, presumably from the now closed blast curtain from where a large floor-to-ceiling window had once been. Dead researches lay sprawled in awkward positions, their bodies stiff and half-covered in snow. Two more geth platforms lay on the stairs, showing acid burns and melted deformities.

"What was that?" Kaidan asked, whipping his rifle around a strange shifting, skittering noise.

"Probably debris." Wrex said mockingly. "Don't panic. I'll protect you."

Shepard was about to order to squad to stop picking on Kaidan when he heard the sound again, a tapping, rushing, insect-like sound. The back of his neck prickled. Motioning to Garrus and Wrex, he had them cover him as he crept his way up the stairs. He'd made it about half-way up when there came a sudden crash and a shriek that seemed to go beyond physical sound.

A _thing_ rounded the corner, reddish brown and not quite the size of a small car. Its razor-sharp mandibles glistened with acid, while two probing, pincer-like antennae snapped at the air in undulating waves. It leaped on its four legs in a deadly arc, it's mouth opening and coming straight for Shepard's helmet.

"RACHNI!" He heard Wrex bellow.

Moving before he could think, he dove forward, under the leaping creature. Shepard was already limned in the blue corona of biotics as he fell, thrusting upward as Wrex sent his own warp at the creature. The resulting conflict of gravimetric fields sheared and exploded, tearing the creature in half in mid-air.

"Weapons free!" Shepard bellowed as he came up, rachni-guts splattering on his armor. Two more of the creatures leaped over the railing in the mess, landing amidst his scattered squad. There was chaos – gunfire, blue flashes, brief explosions they fought, tearing into the rachni that poured from a vent. At one point, Shepard found himself back to back with Garrus and Wrex, all spinning and shooting, a triumvirate of death that held the stairs. Below he could see Tali slide and come up shooting as Liara lifted the mess table and slammed it down – both cover and a weapon. Kaidan and Ashley held the squad's six, Ashley's rifle cracking as she got shots at the writhing mass of rachni.

And then there was stillness. Acid bubbled and steamed, melting through the table and railings. A few rachni twitched and went still, and the squad looked at each other, breathing hard, their pupils dilated as far as they could go.

"Binary Helix does genetics research, does it?" Shepard finally said, an edge to his voice.

Wrex kicked the corpse of one of the Rachni. "This is dangerous foolishness, Shepard. My people died by the thousands to defeat them." He focused his angry stare at the human. "And now your people want to turn them into _weapons_."

"You'll hear no argument from me." Shepard grunted. He paused, turning to the rest of the squad. "Did you hear its scream though?"

"Hard not to." Garrus said dryly.

"It sounded almost… pained." Liara finished quietly, nudging another rachni corpse with her toe. Shepard nodded in agreement.

"I'm not sure we have time to pity them, Commander." Kaidan spoke up.

"No." Shepard conceded. "But I think it means there's something more going on here. They didn't attack with any sort of coordination, just a blind, heedless swarm. More like lemmings than the highly intelligent foes that nearly conquered council space." Shepard unshipped his shotgun. "Keep an eye out." The squad nodded, mollified they weren't being asked to play therapist to the ravening, acid-spitting, alien monsters.

They moved on. Shepard had Garrus take point, for two reasons. The first was to test his leadership under pressure. The turian had a cool head, and had been a unifying force in the drills they ran, managing to keep his team together, even when it had included the relatively untrained Tali and Liara, or an oppositional krogan. The second reason was more self-serving. Shepard's head had begun pounding again, and his vision would intermittently go hazy. Not something he wanted to have happen when they were facing rachni swarms. When he gave the orders, Kaidan had looked at him like he guessed what might be going on, but said nothing.

"Why might Benezia be interested in studying rachni?" Shepard asked Liara. "Aside from the obvious."  
Pain twisted Liara's face, and Shepard felt a brief pang of regret. But it was a question that needed asking.

"I do not know." Liara said softly. She pondered for a moment, before turning to Shepard. "It is said that the Rachni communicate telepathically, or seem to. And in your memories of Feros, Shiala mentioned a process of indoctrination – a mental dominance. Perhaps it is research along a similar line. Or maybe it is an attempt to swell Saren's army, uniting all the former galactic terrors under one banner. Or perhaps it is simply a way to procure large amounts of an extremely reactive acid. I do not know, Alexander." Liara shook her head. "I wish I did." She added bitterly, her knuckles growing tighter on her gun. "I wish I did." She said once more, almost to herself.

They proceeded through the labs, tense and alert, straining to catch the tell-tale skittering that would indicate an oncoming rachni horde. They fought two more battles with the insect-like creatures, and each time they exhibited the same lack of tactics, coming in a frantic and mindless charge, giving off that pained and terrifying shriek. The discovery of some dead scientists who had given their lives to contain the spread did not raise morale. Their nerves were near shredded by the time they found their way to the power station, and even the obtuse VI seemed eerie in the silent sparking of downed generators.

Shepard had Tali and Kaidan set to work on restoring system-wide power, in the hope that the containment procedures would help keep the rachni off of them, provide them a way to punch through and catch the asari matriarch. The rest of them acted to help them, and split up in teams to bring the station back to power.

They all gave a cheer as Tali and Kaidan emerged, and the lights all sprang back on. Their celebrations were cut short, however, but screaming rachni that emerged, smoking from the plasma conduits. Already singed, the squad made short work of them. But the unease stuck with them. Even their victories could bring more danger down on them.

After some brief discussion, Shepard had Tali activate the trace she'd put on Lady Benezia's omni-tool. Ashley and Garrus argued for maintaining the element of surprise, but were overruled. Shepard, he didn't want to fight through hordes of Rachni without a clear idea of where he was going.

They waited with expectant breath as the ping on Tali's omni-tool went out, the hours of ambushes having sensitized their nerves to the slightest of potential surprises. But they needn't have wasted the vigilance. The internal map of the station (granted by the VI) painted a marker on a place in the hot labs.

As they entered the tram station, they found the first real indicator that it had been Benezia who had come before them, not another of Saren's minions. Four asari Commandos lay draped in various positions across a barricade near the operator console for the tram, their bodies shredded or partially dissolved by the furious attacks of the Rachni. A mound of insect bodies lay scattered around them, broken and leaking the foul bile of their kind.

"They died like warriors." Wrex rumbled as they surveyed the scene.

Shepard found himself agreeing. Four commandos had stayed to secure the tram, but had only fallen atop a hill of their enemies. A gruesome testimony to the lethal effectiveness of the elite asari soldiers.

"Wonder if the rachni got all of them." Ashley checked her gun over.

"Do we know how many commandos Benezia commanded?" Kaidan looked hesitantly at Liara, who was staring mutely at the lifeless face of the commando nearest the tram.

Liara shook herself from whatever dark reverie she had fallen into. "My mother was a very influential matriarch. Aside from the T'Soni honor guard, she carried much weight with the commando cohorts." A bitter note entered Liara's voice. "Like them, she espoused an opening and hardening of asari society."

"Your mother has an honor guard?" Ashley asked, with an impressed nonchalance.

Liara colored slightly. "It is a relic of the Warring states period. The T'Sonis were once quite influential. It is only recently that the honor guard became more than a symbolic force." She hesitated, seeming to grapple with some moral question, then turned to look earnestly at Shepard.

"Commander, how do you plan to fight them? Our team is formidable, but these are soldiers with centuries of experience in warfare, superior technology and biotic firepower."

Shepard tensed as he saw the rest of the squad look to him expectantly. His answer would determine morale, which could make or break them. He glanced around. They were frayed already, their hope worn down by waves of alien insects and the threat of greater peril ahead. His head chose that moment to throb viciously, and Shepard had to prevent himself from grabbing it reflexively. Now was not the moment to show weakness.

"We already have a tactical advantage – whatever rachni we're facing they have already had to cut through." He motioned to the fallen commandos. "They're tired, and fighting for a genocidal SpecTRe. We're fresher, and we have the better cause." Shepard began to pace. "We have the fury of Eden Prime, we have the knowledge of Feros, and the trust of the Council and all its constituents on our side. We have the greater will, and the better people." He turned to look at his mismatched team with a warm smile of pride. He began, turning to each of them in turn. "Garrus Vakarian, the best damn sniper I've ever seen. Tali'Zorah, the most ingenious engineer I've ever met. Urdnot Wrex, who's won more battle's than I've eaten breakfasts. Ashley Williams, the most naturally gifted soldier I've ever served with, and Kaidan Alenko, who keeps teaching me what it means to be resourceful." Shepard turned back to Liara, "And you, Dr. T'Soni, who chose to involve yourself in this fight despite common sense and your own mother's affiliation with our enemies."

"And we have you, Shepard." Tali said quietly and unexpectedly.

Shepard nodded modestly. "and you have me. I have a few tricks of my own I can bring. But that is why I am confident we will overcome our enemies and find this Conduit Saren is searching for."

And with that, Shepard stepped on the train, waving the doors open with his omni-tool. The display of his resolve kept him from seeing the reactions of his squadmates, but he didn't really need to. He felt the mood shift, their hope restored. Even Wrex seemed cheered, Shepard's speech having somehow penetrated beyond the thick walls of his sarcasm and world-weariness.

Shepard slept on the tram, grasping at the opportunity like the seasoned soldier he was supposed to be. Dreams plagued him, even in the light slumber – impotent screams - batarian, prothean - echoed through his head, while synthetic chatter and the annihilating cacophony of the Reaper assault shattered sound into meaningless, empty noise.

 _"I am Vijori, the last Oracle –"  
_  
Shepard awoke as the tram slid to a stop, his head pounding even more fiercely, his eyes watering and vision hazy. They had arrived.

* * *

"Hold your fire!"

The human voice was a strange and relieving sound on their ears, after so long with only their squadmates for company under the dangerous mountain. The white-armored figure stepped out from behind his firing line.

"Sorry, we had to be sure." He said.

"I'd only be upset if you had shot at us." Shepard said dryly, stepping forward.

"Even hopped up on stims, my people know the rule: Two legs good, four legs bad." The man shook his head, and removed his helmet, revealing a bald head and high cheekbones.

"You're human, and that's enough I don't shoot. But I'd like to know who you are and what you're doing here."

Shepard looked at the man closely, then took off his own helmet.  
"Commander Alexander Shepard. I'm a council SpecTRe."

Shepard saw what he knew to be fear flicker and disappear in the man's eyes.

"Well. I won't look a heavily armed horse in the mouth." He said with admirable bravado. Shepard examined his face further, and saw the dark bags, and overly dilated pupils that were indicative of extreme fatigue propped up by stims.

The man seemed to come to a decision, and held out his hand. "Captain Ventralis. My men and I have been holding out since the aliens overran the labs last week. We're all barely scraping by on stims." He shook his head slightly.

"How did it start?" Shepard asked.

The captain appraised him once more, before telling him about the previous week – the surprise of the outbreak, the casualties, pulling together men at the last moment. How he'd managed to collect the scientists, and the repeated, senseless raids against their position, which was a natural killzone.

"Even animals learn not to stick their nose where it hurts." He finished.

Shepard peppered the man with further questions, and learned that Benezia had arrived hours ago, and had disappeared towards the hot labs with her commandos. When he had learned all he needed, he thanked the Captain, and told him that he'd held out better than he'd had any right to. Ventralis seemed surprised and grateful at the compliment.

"Come on, lets head down to the hot labs." Shepard said. "If things are as the captain says they are, we might learn more about what Benezia was after here."

The squad nodded, and put their helmets back on.

That was naturally the moment when the next wave of rachni soldiers swarmed up through the shaft and attacked their position. The squad went into a defensive formation and dropped behind the cover Ventralis' men had set up, using the natural killzone to full advantage.

The battle was over quickly, the split and broken rachni bodies joining the rest of the stinking pile and tossed down an adjoining chute.

Ventralis just shook his head, calming his erratic breathing. "Well, at least the passageway will be clear down to the hot labs."

Shepard just nodded his thanks, and turned to go.

"Commander?"

Shepard turned back, his helmet reflecting in the light.

"Good luck." Ventralis said, not without a struggle.

Shepard frowned beneath his visor, but nodded his thanks. Something was off here. Something beyond the resurrected galactic menace harrying the last holdouts of a corporate research lab. Shepard shook his head, and headed down the warren of industrial corridors to the source of the tragedy beneath Peak 15.

The Hot Labs were suspiciously empty, save for the still-warm corpse of a human in scientific gear. His omni-tool identified him as Yaroslev Tartakovsky. It chimed, and opened a video file.

"If you're hearing this, then the last of a long series of mistakes has finally killed me. The singular bit of principle I held to is now the only hope Noveria has. Since we found the derelict rachni ship, I insisted we include a failsafe at every step of the way. One for the queen we found on the derelict, and one for her brood that we so unwisely separated from her." Here Tartakovsky gave a dark laugh. "The board wanted an army. Armies are useless if you can't control them." The holographic scientist shook his head. "There's only one code that will activate both failsafes - 875-020-079. Now go, purge this hell I've helped create."

The omni-tool switched off, and Shepard looked up at his team, their grim faces echoing his own.

"Shepard!" Tali said, a note of horror in her voice. He looked to where she was pointing, and saw that the hallway they were in actually had windows.

Two, actually. Two long, corridor-length observation windows.

Windows that appeared solid, because they were coated in rachni. Rachni whose haunted, insane eyes followed them, the razor-sharp antennae questing over the too-worn and too-chipped glass.

Shepard gave no order, but they all dashed down the hallway to the adjoining room, where an innocent seeming VI console would either be their salvation or their deaths.

They began hearing sharp cracks coming from the hallway as Shepard frantically enacted the fail-safe, a neutron purge that would destroy all life in the overflowing hot-labs.

"Neutron purg-"

The rest of the VI's sentence was drowned out by the dreadful shattering of hardened safety glass. That awful, mind and ear-rending screech, magnified by a thousand tore down the hallway.

"Wrex! Ash! You're vanguard. Grenades and Biotics, clear us a path! Everyone else, fire support!" Shepard said frantically, looking at the 60 seconds he had to vacate the hot labs.

Wrex roared, and charged down the corridor. Ashley screamed a terrible battle cry, and tore off after him, the rest of the squad sprinting behind. The corridor was carpeted in rachni small and large, and the chittering, scraping and screaming was incredibly loud, coming through three gaping holes in the glass. The world was thundering gunfire, yelling, and screeching aliens. Shepard and Liara had the rearguard, using their biotics to blast the rachni attempting to flank them, while the rest of the squad carved their way through the horde with savage desperation.

The elevator was 20 feet away. Shepard spun his rifle and lashed out with a biotic punch, sending a rachni soldier careening into the broken glass. 10 feet. Tali was desperately firing, her shotgun blowing chunks in the rachni that swarmed them. 5 feet. Wrex, wreathed in blue fire, roared, and lashed out with both hands, sending a wave of force that pushed away everything around him.

The doors opened, and they rushed in, squashed against the walls, and turning to bring a wall of lead to bear on the horde scrabbling at the elevator doors.

The lift rose with a pleasant sound, and there was nothing but the panting of the squad, fear and adrenaline making their hearts race at many times their normal rate. There came the sound of a deep, far off explosion, and they knew that the neutron purge had detonated.

The rachni hordes were dead.

 _But Benezia_ – _well_ , Shepard thought, _Benezia must be with the queen._

* * *

The squad spilled out from the elevator into the passageway leaden and tired, the silence between them full of its own weight. Shepard let them stay like that for a minute, all of them hollow eyed and empty, terror and desperation having violently ripped all other emotion out. All except himself and Wrex. He shared a glance of mutual, unspoken respect. It wasn't their first time for truly desperate and near horrific acts.

"We really killed all of them." Ashley said, her voice far away. She gave a small, empty laugh. "I thought I would be relieved."

"It's one thing to shoot a thing that's attacking you, but quite another to look it in the eye as you lock it in a closet with a neutron bomb." Shepard said, clapping the Chief of the shoulder. "Come on. We did what we had to, the only choice left to us. The shame in the situation was not of our making, despite what your mind is telling you."

"Is that what you told yourself after Mindoir, sir?" Kaidan said unexpectedly, anguish and anger threatening the man's tight hold on his control and making his voice rigid.

Shepard paused, the old pain, the ancient, deep-seated and unrelenting guilt making him tense, then relax, as he remembered how far he had come, that scars were just scars.

"No, Kaidan." Shepard said, opting to use the Lieutenant's first name. "I called myself every name under the sun to try and wash their blood off of my hands. It never helped, and it took my adoptive mother years to overcome the self-hatred." He grimaced. "It didn't help when she began training me as a weapon herself, but she wasn't wrong. Self-flagellation isn't justice."

Kaidan didn't seem completely convinced, but the hollowness to his eyes seemed to dissipate somewhat.

"Come on." Shepard said again. He glanced at Liara, who was staring with a faraway expression at a blank patch of wall. He hoped she was preparing herself, really listening to what he was saying. But there was no way to get around that she might be asked to commit matricide, however noble the cause.

They moved on, tired and silent. They made their way up the shaft, and then came face to face with Captain Ventralis and his men, situated behind their barrier, that wonderful killzone now pointed directly at them.

"Don't make this difficult Commander. I have my orders." Captain Ventralis said through his helmet, a note of tired regret in his voice.

Sudden fury coursed through Shepard.

"Captain, apparently you didn't hear me the first time. _I am a Council SpecTRe_."  
Shepard let the threat hang, walking forward slowly, staring without blinking at Ventralis, heedless of the guns pointed his direction. He pressed himself up against the barrel of Ventralis' rifle. It told just how tired the captain was, that he let Shepard that close.

"Don't let your men die after all they've been through." Shepard said quietly, and felt the barrel of Ventralis' rifle tremble slightly. "You don't want to die for people whose idea of rescue involved leaving you to fend for yourself while they protected the hell they'd created."  
Shepard pushed the gun barrel down, finding the captain no longer resisting. "You're a good soldier, Ventralis. No reason to die for a cause that's not your own."

"Commander!" Tali said, stepping forward. Shepard looked back, and the move almost cost him his life.

The asari assassin sprang out of the shadow she'd been hiding in, already limned in a blue glow. Shepard twisted, already reacting, but was caught and sent spinning, falling, and skidding across the ground, his hardsuit scraping against the industrial floor. He rolled, his honed instincts already intercepting the next blow.

He caught the fist, his arms held loosely, his body flexing and moving with the sheer force of the blow. He arched, letting the energy of the blow travel downwards, and out his foot that he snapped upwards, augmented by his own biotics.

Lyvanis had tried to make him her weapon. She failed, but Shepard had learned much from the secretive cabal of asari she'd sent him to for training.

Shepard's biotically assisted kick connected with the asari's shin, and it broke with a sharp _crack!_ The assassin had time to look at him in pained disbelief before his squad filled her with holes.

"Anyone else have something to add?" Garrus asked, stepping forward and staring down the shocked human soldiers.

Shepard snarled, and straightened. His gauntlets had cracked with the blow, and the cold air felt odd on his otherwise armored hands. His joints ached from the unnatural strain of flexing and clenching for the technique, and his head was now throbbing with insistent regularity. He shook himself, and turned to Ventralis, eyes flat.

"Give me the key, and the matriarch's location."

Captain Ventralis stood silent for one moment more, then nodded and waved his omni tool, stepping aside. His voice was defeated and tired,

"The matriarch is with the queen." He said. Looking up at the hard faces and gun barrels still pointed at him and his men, he asked. "Can I just get my men out of here?"

"As long as there aren't any more assassins among them." Shepard said acidly.

"Iallis? The matriarch left her." The tone of disgust was evident in the Captain's voice. "She mostly cleaned her nails while we held this position."

Shepard just shook his head, and began walking towards the back, through the suddenly hopeful and chattering civilians, past the turrets (pointed the wrong way, again.) and into the adjoining chamber. Shepard moved before anyone had really prepared themselves, just wanting to be done. The door opened with a hiss.

What lay on the other side of the door was unexpected. The air was fresh, and though the heating elements were working, the filtering couldn't quite get rid of the cold Noverian bite. The ceiling was cavernous, stretching and disappearing to a bright point of white light that suggested the place was at least somewhat open to the elements. There were walkways that circled the perimeter of the room, with raised platforms so that workers and scientists could attend to the two prominent features of the room.

The first was a sight no one had seen in generations, a dark, almost carapace-like hull in smooth, organic lines. An entire rachni ship stood before them, its dark surface gleaming menacingly in the natural light of the chamber. The second was a massive tube, with large tanks attached on either side of it. Inside the tube was the largest Rachni of them all, its eyes glowing, and mandibles clacking, and multiple sets of antennae questing, feeling the confines of its tank with a desperate, but not mindless or animal intensity.

Matriarch Benezia stood with her eyes closed, and her hand against the tank. There came a sudden, soundless shriek that blasted through all of their minds, and the rachni queen recoiled, scrabbling frantically to get away from the bent form of the matriarch. The ghost of a victorious smile appeared on the matriarch's lips, and she turned to face them, delicately removing her hand from the glass.

"Alexander Pastoris. We meet again." Benezia said, her poise and posture making the words drip with condescending irony.

"Lady Benezia." Shepard said shortly. He opened his mouth to continue, when Liara cut him off, stepping forward, radiating earnest, confused hurt.

"What are you doing mother?"

Lady Benezia's poise dropped for a single instant, when doubt, too small and too subtle for most observers to have seen, flickered across her face. Then it smoothed out once more, and she turned to face the queen again.

"You cannot stop me. I have taken the location of the Mu relay, and so the Conduit." The matriarch's voice faded slightly, and she said, "I wrested it from the last of the rachni." There was a sudden, almost imperceptible shake of her head, and Benezia T'Soni turned to face the squad.  
"You cannot stop the coming of the Reapers. You will either ascend in glory, or be tossed aside with the chaff. For there will be no war when they come, only the harvest of civilizations."

Liara let out a quiet, not-quite-stifled sob. "Mother! I have seen visions of this harvest. I have seen the work you are toiling to bring about. How can you _want_ this?" She took a shuddering breath. "How did _this_ become the ascendancy of civilization?"

"Child." The matriarch said, seeming to stare right past her only daughter. "My vision was too narrow before. Surely you, who study the past, can appreciate the problem of scale?" She said, tilting her head inquisitively. "I thought before in centuries. What Saren has shown me stretches to eons. I thought before in terms of advancing one to advance all, of a rising will that would drag disunity to a higher plane." She turned to face the squad fully, a fell light now in her eyes. "But I have seen truly, now, and it is within reach to bring true unity, universal _sovereignty._ One galaxy, united and brighter than the stars."

Benezia's terrible gaze turned back to them, and she lowered her hands. "Now, you can join us, or you can die."

"Snipers!" Garrus yelled suddenly, pointing his own rifle at the catwalks above, where 3 asari commandos had them all in their sights.  
Benezia smiled. "Join the harvest, or die in the fire." She said simply, and turned away, beginning to type on a datapad.

Garrus snarled his frustration, and shot the datapad from her fingers.

The echo from the shot bounced once, and then all hell broke loose. Benezia suddenly outshone the light in the chamber, while commandos and geth suddenly poured from every door, bringing a wall of fire towards their small team.

In the split-second they had, Liara screamed a barely intelligible "NO!" and threw herself in front of the squad, a huge barrier bubble surrounding them all.

It broke with a thunderous report, and Liara fell, stunned by the biotic feedback. They were already moving - Kaidan scooping up the doctor and moving them behind cover, as Wrex charged forward, assault rifle neatly taking out geth even as he became the equivalent of a biotic wrecking ball on their ranks. Ashley dove for cover, Tali following her, as they played a double-edged game, Ash sniping and keeping them down, while Tali swept the approaching geth and commandos with tech mines and well-timed shotgun blasts. Garrus, his gun still cooling, rolled forward, swapping the weapon for his assault rifle, began spraying the other pincer of the geth assault.

Shepard - from nerves, his pounding headache, or simple anger at the callousness of the situation - did something rather foolish, and charged the ancient, incredibly powerful asari matriarch.

Only his training, the lessons by which Lyvanis would have made him her tool, kept him alive. He arched and bowed nimbly backwards, as a huge warp slid past, strong enough to fold his chest in half like paper. Feeling the sheer pull of the gravity from the blast alters his trajectory, and the shots from his rifle went wide. The matriarch smiled, and grasped the air towards herself, ripping the gun from his hands and casually crushing it. Without time to draw his sidearm, Shepard lunged, throwing himself forward and to the side as another crushing warp tore the railing behind him into modern art. Finally in hand-to-hand range, Shepard ducked to the side, and landed a single, biotically assisted punch on the matrarch's ribs before being thrown backwards by a reactive pulse of biotic power.

As he sailed through the air, Shepard took a moment to fearfully wonder just how long the matriarch could go before needing to go through cooldown. He landed and skidded with bone-jarring thuds, frantically scrabbling up and throwing himself out of the way of another warp that made the smooth deck plating ripple and buck, forming small mountains of torn steel in the floor.

Recalling every trick in his particular book, Shepard launched himself forward, a tiny boost of biotic power sending him farther than he should. He was fighting on pure instinct and training, dodging and moving frantically, erratically around Benezia's incredibly powerful attacks.

Around them, rifle fire and biotic attacks tore chunks in the scenery, the hail of destruction causing the rachni queen to cower in her tank. Garrus had moved forward, back to his sniper, picking off the asari and geth who tried to gather on the upper levels. He took a bullet in the shoulder, but kept moving and shooting, blue blood leaking slightly from the medi-gel sealed wound. Tali and Ashley were a storm of death, until an errant biotic blast knocked Ash from her feet, sending her sniper rifle skittering over the edge of the platform. Tali covered for her, pumping blast after blast into the approaching geth until her gun overheated. Wrex, covered in white coolant and his own orange blood, roared repeatedly, and broke the geth before him, bringing Tali and Ash a reprieve.

Then Kaidan rejoins the fight, moving quickly, efficiently, his tech mines shepherding the geth into a killzone, while his biotics hit them all at once. Soon only the commandos, moving with efficient, deadly movements, were left.

They said something behind their helmets, a decision made, and suddenly all the remaining commandos focused their fire on Shepard, moving quickly out of range. Kaidan, who always too care to keep his finger on the pulse of the battle, threw himself in the way. In an instant, his shield shorted, his barrier fell, and bullets pierced his calf, thigh, and bicep. But he gave a bloody smile as he fell, consciousness fleeing. Grenades, tossed in his desperate move, blasted on either side of the funneled asari. Shrapnel killed two and wounded two more.

Ash leapt up to take Kaidan's place, but the matriarch, who'd just thrown Shepard into the railing with an expert flick of her finger, turned her attention to the human woman. She gestured, and Ash felt gravity intensify, tearing muscle and pulling her forcefully down into the walkway. Ash, stubborn to a fault, screamed, and was able to get off two blasts of her shotgun, before her head bounced off of the steel floor. Wrex, having torn through the geth advance, sprinted around the long end of the rectangular platform, and bulled into the final two commandos ending one with a point-blank warp, and the other with a great stop of his foot. Purple blood leaked from the shattered helmet, and the ancient battlemaster stared down the blazing matriarch.

There was a sudden lull, where both sides regarded each other. Benezia stared at the squad, no longer glowing with the brilliant corona. Shepard picked himself up off the floor, moving as stealthily as his battered body would allow.

A crack shattered the stillness – a sharp echo that seemed to bypass mere sound. The matriarch stiffened, and a flicker of red light danced across her face, almost too brief to be seen. Her limbs returned to their fluid grace, and she tilted her head, and gave a leering grin, a vicious expression that terribly profaned the grace and power that normally surrounded her.

Then she exploded into motion. She flash-stepped into Wrex, sending the two-ton krogan flying into the upper bannister, which shattered under the weight. Wrex bellowed, and struggled to lift himself up quick enough, but Benezia was already among the squad. She charged again, blue light leaving streaks on Shepard's vision as she bowled into Garrus. He was saved by a quick roll, but the force sent him skidding, stabilizing himself by a four-point slide, sparks spraying where his armor burrowed into the platform. He turned into the skid, rolling up, bringing his pistol to bear. Three quick shots, all deflected by Benezia's barrier. The martriarch yanked him forward, and casually broke his arm, through the armor, with a quick, blazing strike strike. His face set into a rictus, Garrus, struck with his other hand, knife appearing in it from nowhere. Benezia backhanded him, and his helmet cracked with the force of it, sending him sprawling.

But then Liara was there. She let loose a scream that rent her throat, and, to the surprise of everyone, did a flash-step of her own, a blue corridor of light that impacted like a freight train into her mother's form, shattering the matriarch's near-impenetrable barrier, and rocking her backwards. Benezia stood still for an instant, reeling, and Liara gave a quick motion, biotic throw sending her mother flying.

But it was only an instant, and the matriarch stabilized in mid-air, blue coronas around her feet, before dropping and sending a shockwave at Liara. Shepard saw his opening, and pounced, joining the battling asari. Shepard's vision narrowed, every move a concentrated, precise, and focused, as he leaped around the great blasts of biotic energy flying between mother and daughter, countering with tiny, fractional fields that parried rather than blocked, redirected rather than blunted. He was fluid, fighting more desperately and more intently than he ever had before, knowing one slip could snap his bones or pop his head like a balloon.

Then three things happened at once. Shepard saw an opening, a micro-second where Benezia's barrier flickered, taking the brunt of a warp, and balancing against a singularity that Liara used to throw off her blasts, and he took it, lunging in and slamming an open, biotically enhanced palm into the matriarch's solar plexus, and ducking away as the retaliatory backhand came. Liara's already flying warp, by sheer chance, hit the same spot, shattering the barrier for good, and Wrex, bleeding from a million places, limping, and carrying a shotgun in one hand because his other was too mangled, threw his own throw, knocking the matriarch to the ground.

Shepard saw the plays of the respective players in that surreal, perfect battlefield clarity. This was the last move – a sacrifice play. Benezia knew she would not get back up, but her corona was already lighting up, ready to destroy the person who finished her. Liara, sweet, shy, Liara, saw it too. And she was launching herself forward, a flying leap that would utterly destroy her mother, and herself.

And before he could think, Shepard was between them, moving with tight efficiency, falling to meet the matriarch as she rose, his pistol already out, pressed up against the matriarch. There were two quick shots, and a roaring blaze of blue, and Shepard was thrown high. Much too high. Someone called his name.

* * *

He didn't remember landing. That was bad. A presence shifted and slid up against his own, deep strains of sepulchral and otherworldly music echoing from strange valleys resonated through his mind.

 _Your song is fading._

It wasn't a thought, so much as an impression. Something sent to him through the colored and unearthly motes of music.

 _But you are on the edge of something. Something more._

Shepard floated on the hazy clouds of the haunting melodies, trying to remember, trying to care. He was dying. He knew that. Expected that, somehow. But it would be nice to put down all those masks for awhile.

 _Speak for me._

The notes were more urgent now, insistent. Shepard gasped, feeling breath – a hard thing now – fill his lungs. He staggered to his feet. The movements were clumsy, like he wasn't quite under his own power. Sight greeted his bleary eyes, and had a double meaning – at once familiar and reassuring, and strange and threatening. An asari, tears pouring from her cheeks. A human woman, moving slowly, like every move pained her. A quarian, head drooping and gestures hesistant. A krogan, tottering on the edge of consciousness, vengeance in his eyes.

 _Tell them._ The music, softer now, but insistent.

"The Rachni queen. She offers a choice." Shepard swayed, feeling his body begin to shut down. "Two melodies." He said dreamily, not quite registering the looks of concern from his friends. "A song of bittersweet endings: For the mother, bright chemical chords that join her with the estranged ones. For this one-" Shepard made a floppy gesture with his hand, vaguely indicating himself. "-a fall just as the melody shifts."

Wrex swayed heavily, and said with choked determination. "Kill them. Can't trust…" and then he fell over, his body shutting down to heal the extensive damage.

"Or, a song of forgiveness – far away from the colorless notes of your civilization, and the sour yellow perversion." Shepard gave another flopping gesture, pointing to the ship. "We will take you. Fly to meet your –" Shepard paused. The song didn't quite translate. "carrier." He said finally. "A song of hope, for all." Shepard made the gesture to himself again.

He vaguely noticed Tali's bright eyes go wide, and her omni-tool rising.  
"Joker! Can you get a geosynchronous orbit on our position?"

"We can't trust them, Tali –" Ash croaked.

"We can't –" Shepard's vision was fading to black, his hearing retreating within him. "-genocide!" he heard Tali say, and then he collapsed.

 _Let me sing of the lost, bright one._

And Shepard's mind was filled with somber colored song, as his consciousness fled to the strange ridges and valleys of the Rachni's echoing music.

* * *

 _ **A/N** : It has been awhile! Glad to be back though, and I hope my alternate take on Noveria was more fulfilling, and less forced, than the original. I always felt Benezia to be the worst boss in the game, both because of the missed pathos, the incredibly cheesy script ("You do not know the privilege of being a mother" - ...what?) And, lets be honest, the technical limitations of the game engine and biotics. Noveria was an excellent place to show the dual role of the SpecTRes - both spy and soldier: Schmoozing around bureaucracy, to fighting overwhelming odds against strange foes and emerging victorious. Noveria in the game only halfheartedly accomplishes that._

 _From here on out, things will get considerably more AU. You will recognize the events, but much of the reasons, the plot events that connect Noveria to Virmire to Ilos, will be changed._

 _Leave reviews and tell me what you think! At the moment, I have lots of ideas about how I would considerably rewrite, and improve Mass Effect 2 and 3. But that's a significant undertaking - one that's fueled by reviews ;)_

 _Hope you enjoyed reading!_


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